Americans have long had a dislike of the French. Sometimes it’s just gentle teasing, other times, it’s downright fury. I can understand it to a certain degree. After all, we have the French to blame for accordion music, mimes, and the possibility of finding things like frogs, snails and horse on the menu. Le yarg.
They have, however, also brought a lot of good into the world such as batteries, bicycles and bikinis – and that’s just the B’s! We have one more French-made ‘B’ to add to the list – and that’s the Bacsac – a smartly designed and relatively inexpensive set of portable gardening containers.
If you have a large lawn and / or you’re gardening in what you’d consider to be your “forever home”, the Bacsac is probably of little to no interest to you. Here’s a video to entertain you while the rest of us are reading.
However, if you’re keen to get growing herbs, vegetables, berries, flowers and other plants but:
a) Only have access to a patio; OR
b) Would love to find a way to bring your garden indoors for the off-season; OR
b) Plan to move at some point and would love to take your garden with you …
… then the Bacsac may just be what you need. The makers of Bacsac took the square-foot gardening technique and made it portable. Each Bacsac container is made of a lightweight recyclable materials that is UV-, frost-, tear- and traction-resistant and comes equipped with handles to make transporting easier. A reason we like Bacsac so much over other portable or small gardening trays and pots is that these allow your plants to flourish as if they were in the ground. The material allows for both soil to breath and water to drain as needed by the plant. Mwah! Magnifique!
Bacsac come in a variety of shapes and sizes – from single rounds to hanging styles to a set of square plots that are sewn together. The smallest holds up to 0.8 gallons of soil, and the largest combination works out to a 40 gallon garden.
Currently, the only American retailer to carry Bacsac is A+R. Thankfully, they have an online shop that allows you to buy a nice variety of these mobile garden containers. Prices start at $52 and work up to $275 for your largest portable garden option. With this, the French have redeemed themselves. Finally, you can stop referring to that lovely potato side as a “Freedom Fry” and order your McDonalds meal without the politics.
