I have a light availability issue in my garden. To compound that it is in a very small area so diseases and pests tend to hit everything at once.
I want to try lifting a couple self watering 5 gallon bucket planters up on a rope I have tied between two trees, at about 25 feet over the ground.
The rope is a nylon / polyester blend rated at 280 lbs and apparently very resistant to weathering, etc. If this works this season I plan to replace this piece with a (much more $$$) metal rope. But for one season I was thinking this should work.
I put some O shaped rings on this line, running from tree to tree, loosely bound in place with a zip tie to prevent it blowing up and down. Through this O ring I threaded a 100 ft piece of paracord rated at 100 lbs. On one end is the bucket. On the other end I pull.
This process turned out to be a LOT more difficult than I expected. I got the bucket about 5 feet in the air and realized I needed to change something.
I am going to try using a pulley on the O-ring instead of just threading it through -- I think friction is making me pull harder than I should have to.
I am also planning on tying it down to a heavy-ish log with an anchor screwed into it. What I don't want to happen is for this bucket to come crashing down unexpectedly (it wouldn't kill anyone because it is hanging over the rest of my garden, but it would do a lot of damage); but also I need to raise and lower it on a regular basis to refill the water and harvest whatever from it.
If I am going about this in a foolish way please let me know. I don't have much experience with this sort of thing.