Not every garden storage container needs to be a rigid, lid-covered box. When I look at what gardeners actually reach for day to day — hauling compost, mixing potting soil, soaking seed trays, carrying weeds to the bin — a flexible plastic tub almost always beats a traditional tote. That’s why this roundup centers on the Red Gorilla flexible tub lineup, which has quietly become the default workhorse for gardeners, stable owners, and smallholders who need one container that can carry, pour, wash, and store.
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The short version: the Red Gorilla Medium Flexible Tub (6.8 gallons, pistachio) is my top pick for most gardeners because its smaller footprint makes it the most versatile tool in the shed. The Red Gorilla Large Flexible Tub (10 gallons, blue) is the better hauler if you regularly move heavy loads like soil, gravel, or harvested produce. And the Large Tub in green is functionally the same 10-gallon workhorse as the blue version, which makes it less a separate pick and more a color-and-price decision I’ll help you think through honestly.
The main tradeoffs here aren’t dramatic — this is a family of very similar products — but they matter: capacity versus manageability, and open-tub convenience versus lidded, stackable storage. If you need sealed, stackable containers for long-term seed or tool storage, none of these will fully replace a lidded tote, and I’ll say so plainly below.
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Key Takeaways
- The medium 6.8-gallon tub is the most versatile pick — light enough to carry one-handed, big enough for most potting and weeding jobs.
- The 10-gallon large tubs (blue and green) are best for heavy hauling like soil, gravel, and harvests, but a full load gets heavy fast.
- The blue and green large tubs are the same product in different colors — choose based on price and visibility in your garden, not features.
- All three are frost- and UV-resistant and food-grade certified, so they can overwinter outside and double as harvest or wash tubs.
- None of these tubs include a lid, so they are carry-and-mix workhorses, not sealed storage for seeds, chemicals, or moisture-sensitive gear.
| Red Gorilla Medium Flexible Plastic Tub, 26 L / 6.8 Gallon, Pistachio |  | Best Overall for Everyday Garden Work | Capacity: 26 liters / 6.8 gallons | Dimensions: 15.35 × 15.35 × 11.81 inches | Diameter: 15.35 inches | VIEW LATEST PRICE | See Our Full Breakdown |
| Red Gorilla Large Flexible Plastic Tub, 10 Gallon, Blue |  | Best for Heavy Hauling and Bulk Jobs | Capacity: 38 liters / 10 gallons | Dimensions: 18 × 18 × 13 inches | Weight: 1.1 pounds | VIEW LATEST PRICE | See Our Full Breakdown |
| Red Gorilla Large Flexible Plastic Tub, 10 Gallon, Green |  | Best for Blending In — and Often the Better Priced Twin | Capacity: 10 gallons / 38 liters | Dimensions: 18 inches wide × 13 inches tall | Weight: 0.9 kg | VIEW LATEST PRICE | See Our Full Breakdown |
| plastic storage totes for gardening | Capacity | Dimensions | Weight | Material |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Gorilla Medium Flexible Pl | 26 liters / 6.8 gallons | 15.35 × 15.35 × 11.81 inches | 0.65 kg (approx. 1.4 lbs) | Flexible plastic, food-grade certified |
| Red Gorilla Large Flexible Pla | 38 liters / 10 gallons | 18 × 18 × 13 inches | 1.1 pounds | Flexible plastic, food-grade certified |
| Red Gorilla Large Flexible Pla | 10 gallons / 38 liters | 18 inches wide × 13 inches tall | 0.9 kg | Flexible plastic, food-grade certified |
More Details on Our Top Picks
Red Gorilla Medium Flexible Plastic Tub, 26 L / 6.8 Gallon, Pistachio
This is the pick I’d point most gardeners toward first, and the reason comes down to a simple principle: a tub you can actually lift is a tub you’ll actually use. At 6.8 gallons, this medium-size Tubtrug sits in the sweet spot between capacity and manageability. Filled with damp potting mix, it stays within comfortable carrying range for most adults, and at roughly 1.4 pounds empty, it’s light enough to grab one-handed while you’re juggling a trowel and a tray of seedlings.
The flexible body is what separates this from a rigid bucket, and it changes how you work. You can pinch the rim to form a pouring spout for distributing soil around beds, squeeze the sides to funnel compost into narrow pots, and bend the whole tub to dump clippings into a green waste bin without wrestling it. The handles are molded into the rim as a continuous reinforced band rather than bolted-on grips, which means there’s no weak joint to tear out under load — a common failure point on cheap rigid totes.
Weather resistance is the other headline. The frost- and UV-resistant plastic means this tub can overwinter on a patio, sit in a greenhouse all summer, or freeze with leftover water in it without cracking or going brittle. Compared with the two large tubs below, the medium’s smaller diameter (about 15 inches) also makes it a better fit for potting benches, greenhouse shelves, and sink-side wash duty. It’s certified food-grade, so harvesting tomatoes or washing just-pulled carrots in it is on the table.
The honest tradeoff: 6.8 gallons is too small for bulk hauling. If your routine involves moving wheelbarrow-loads of soil, mulch, or gravel, you’ll make twice as many trips with this as with the 10-gallon blue tub, and the medium will feel like a compromise rather than a convenience. There’s also no lid, so it won’t protect stored items from rain, dust, or curious rodents. Think of it as a daily workhorse, not a storage vault.
Pros:- Flexible body lets you pinch, pour, and dump one-handed without a spout attachment
- Frost- and UV-resistant plastic survives outdoor storage year-round
- Food-grade certified for harvesting and washing produce
- Light enough to carry full with one hand and small enough for potting benches
Cons:- 6.8-gallon capacity means more trips for bulk jobs like mulching or soil moving
- No lid, so contents are exposed to rain, dust, and pests
- Round shape wastes shelf space compared with rectangular totes
Best for: Gardeners who want one do-everything tub for potting, weeding, harvesting, and light carrying — especially anyone with a greenhouse, potting bench, or smaller raised-bed setup.
Not ideal for: Anyone hauling bulk materials like soil, gravel, or large harvests, or anyone who needs sealed, lidded storage for seeds and tools.
- Capacity:26 liters / 6.8 gallons
- Dimensions:15.35 × 15.35 × 11.81 inches
- Diameter:15.35 inches
- Weight:0.65 kg (approx. 1.4 lbs)
- Material:Flexible plastic, food-grade certified
- Color:Pistachio
- Shape:Round
- Weather resistance:Frost- and UV-resistant
Our verdict“The most versatile tub in the lineup and the one I’d buy first for general garden duty — just pair it with a bigger tub if you haul bulk materials.”
Red Gorilla Large Flexible Plastic Tub, 10 Gallon, Blue
When the job scales up, this is the tub that makes sense. The 10-gallon capacity roughly translates to a half-wheelbarrow load per trip, which is exactly what you want when you’re moving compost to beds, carting firewood, or carrying a serious harvest from the vegetable patch. Compared with the medium pistachio tub, this large version covers the same list of jobs — carrying, mixing, pouring, washing, storing — but it handles them at a scale where the smaller tub starts requiring multiple trips.
What stands out here is how the 18-inch-wide, 13-inch-tall profile changes the tub’s usefulness. The wide mouth makes it easy to drop in full-size garden tools, coiled hoses, or balled-and-burlapped seedlings, and the extra depth means a mixed batch of potting soil for a full tray of containers doesn’t spill over the rim. The two reinforced handles sit at a comfortable carrying width, so a full load can be shared between two hands or two people without the flex that makes lighter loads awkward.
The blue color deserves a mention for a practical reason: it’s highly visible against soil, grass, and mulch. Gardeners who’ve spent ten minutes hunting for a green tub they set down in a flower bed will understand why that’s not a trivial point — and it’s the main functional difference between this pick and its green twin below.
Now the honest part: full is heavy. Ten gallons of wet soil or soaked compost can push past 70 pounds, and while the handles handle it, your back may not. This size is better suited to medium loads carried often than maximum loads carried once. And like every tub in this lineup, there’s no lid, so it’s a poor choice for keeping potting mix dry through a rainy week or storing anything that needs protection. For smaller daily tasks — deadheading rounds, potting up seedlings — the medium tub is simply easier to live with.
Pros:- 10-gallon capacity halves the number of trips for bulk hauling jobs
- Wide 18-inch mouth swallows tools, hoses, and large harvests easily
- Bright blue color is easy to spot when set down in beds or tall grass
- Same frost-, UV-resistance and food-grade certification as the rest of the lineup
Cons:- A fully loaded tub can weigh 70+ pounds, which is too much for some users
- No lid, so contents are exposed to the elements
- Oversized for small daily tasks like deadheading or potting single plants
Best for: Gardeners with larger plots who regularly move soil, compost, mulch, or big harvests and want fewer trips without committing to a wheelbarrow.
Not ideal for: Anyone with limited grip or back strength who would struggle with a fully loaded 10-gallon tub, or gardeners whose tasks are mostly small-scale.
- Capacity:38 liters / 10 gallons
- Dimensions:18 × 18 × 13 inches
- Weight:1.1 pounds
- Material:Flexible plastic, food-grade certified
- Color:Blue
- Shape:Round
- Handles:Two molded reinforced handles
- Weather resistance:Frost- and UV-resistant
Our verdict“The right pick when volume matters — buy it alongside the medium tub and you’ve covered both ends of the garden workload.”
Red Gorilla Large Flexible Plastic Tub, 10 Gallon, Green
I’ll be straightforward: this green large tub is functionally the same product as the blue large tub above. Same 10-gallon capacity, same 18-by-13-inch footprint, same flexible food-grade plastic, same frost and UV resistance, same reinforced dual handles. So rather than invent differences that don’t exist, my job here is to help you decide between twins — because in practice, price and color are the only real levers.
The case for green is mostly aesthetic and situational. If your tubs live on a patio, beside a greenhouse, or anywhere visible from the house, a muted green reads as garden equipment rather than barn gear. Some gardeners also color-code intentionally — green for plant-related jobs, blue for washing or livestock duty — and if that’s your system, this tub fills the green slot in a 10-gallon size. Where the green genuinely wins is when it’s listed at a lower price than the blue, which happens often enough to make checking both listings worthwhile before you click buy.
Where green loses is recoverability. Set a green tub down in a lawn, a raised bed, or under a hedge, and it does its camouflage job a little too well — this is the exact scenario where the blue tub’s visibility earns its keep. If you’re the type who migrates around the garden leaving tools in your wake, that’s a real drawback, not a quibble.
One thing worth flagging from the listing itself: the product dimensions are listed inconsistently (showing a 1 × 1 × 1 inch shipping placeholder against the stated 18-inch width and 13-inch height). The tub is genuinely the full 10-gallon size, but double-check the seller and variant before ordering so you don’t receive the wrong item by accident. Compared with the medium pistachio tub, this large green option trades one-handed convenience for hauling capacity — the same tradeoff as the blue version, just in a color that hides better and occasionally costs less.
Pros:- Identical 10-gallon hauling capacity and build quality to the blue version
- Muted green blends with garden settings and patios
- Often priced slightly below the blue equivalent
- Food-grade, frost-resistant, and UV-resistant like the rest of the lineup
Cons:- Green color makes it easy to lose track of in lawns, beds, and borders
- Listed dimensions on some listings are inconsistent, so verify the variant before ordering
- Same no-lid, no-seal limitations as the entire lineup
Best for: Gardeners who want the 10-gallon hauling capacity in a low-visibility color, or anyone who finds it listed cheaper than the blue equivalent.
Not ideal for: Anyone prone to setting tools down in the garden — the green disappears into beds and lawns — or buyers who need the medium tub’s lighter carry weight.
- Capacity:10 gallons / 38 liters
- Dimensions:18 inches wide × 13 inches tall
- Weight:0.9 kg
- Material:Flexible plastic, food-grade certified
- Color:Green
- Shape:Round
- Handles:Two strong molded handles
- Weather resistance:Frost- and UV-resistant
Our verdict“A smart buy when it’s the cheaper of the two identical 10-gallon tubs — just know you’re choosing a color, not a different product.”
How We Picked
Because these three tubs come from the same manufacturer and share the same core design, my ranking logic had less to do with build quality — which is consistent across the lineup — and more with how each size fits real gardening workflows. A tub that’s perfect for mixing potting soil on a potting bench is not the tub you want for hauling wheelbarrow-scale loads of compost, and pretending one size fits all would do buyers a disservice.
I judged each option against a few questions I’d ask any garden container. First, capacity versus carry weight: a 10-gallon tub filled with wet soil can weigh 60 pounds or more, and a container only earns its capacity if you can actually move it when full. Second, weather tolerance: garden tubs live outdoors, get left in the sun, and sometimes freeze with water in them, so frost and UV resistance weren’t optional — they were the baseline. Third, handle strength and flexibility: the whole point of a flexible tub is that you can squeeze it to pour, pinch it one-handed, and carry it with a full load without the handles tearing out. Fourth, versatility: I rewarded containers that could move between carrying, mixing, washing, and storage roles rather than doing one job well. Finally, food-grade certification mattered because it opens up harvest and wash-station uses that ordinary utility tubs can’t safely handle.
I also weighed what each tub lacks. None of these ship with a lid, none stack efficiently when full, and none lock. For gardeners who need sealed, rodent-proof storage, that’s a real limitation, and I’ve flagged it consistently rather than glossing over it. My goal was to rank these three options so that a reader can match a tub to their actual garden routine in about two minutes.
| plastic storage totes for gardening | Color | Handles |
|---|---|---|
| Red Gorilla Medium Flexible Pl | Pistachio | — |
| Red Gorilla Large Flexible Pla | Blue | Two molded reinforced handles |
| Red Gorilla Large Flexible Pla | Green | Two strong molded handles |
Factors to Consider When Choosing Best Plastic Storage Totes For Gardening
Before choosing between these tubs, it helps to understand what a flexible garden tub does well, where it falls short of a traditional lidded tote, and which size matches your actual routine. Here’s how I’d think through the decision.Capacity: Match the Tub to the Load, Not the Ambition
The single biggest mistake buyers make is going straight to the largest size. A 10-gallon tub filled with wet soil can exceed 70 pounds, and a container you can’t comfortably lift full becomes a stationary bucket you fill with a shovel. The 6.8-gallon medium stays in a comfortable carry range for almost everyone, which is why it earns my best-overall slot. Choose large only if your garden routine genuinely involves bulk materials — soil amendments, gravel, mulch, or big harvests — or plan to fill the large tub only two-thirds full.
Flexible Plastic vs. Rigid Totes: Know What You’re Buying
Flexible tubs and rigid storage totes solve different problems. A rigid tote with a lid protects contents — it keeps seeds dry, tools dust-free, and fertilizers away from moisture and pests. A flexible tub moves contents — you can pour from it, pinch it into a spout, bend it to dump, and carry it fully loaded without a handle tearing loose. Most gardeners benefit from owning both: flexible tubs for daily carrying and mixing, rigid lidded totes for sealed storage. If you can only buy one type and your priority is storage, none of these three picks is the right answer.
Weather Resistance: Why Frost and UV Ratings Matter Outdoors
Garden containers live a hard life. They sit in summer sun, which makes cheap plastic go brittle and chalky within a season or two, and they freeze with rainwater pooled inside, which cracks anything not formulated for low temperatures. All three of these tubs are rated for both frost and UV exposure, which means you can leave them outside year-round, overwinter them in an unheated greenhouse, or let them freeze solid without shortening their lifespan. That rating is a genuine differentiator against generic hardware-store buckets, which typically fail within a couple of outdoor seasons.
Food-Grade Certification: The Overlooked Feature
It’s easy to skip past “food-grade certified” as marketing filler, but for a garden tub it opens real use cases. A certified food-grade tub can safely hold harvested produce, wash root vegetables, soak seeds, and even mix edibles like harvested fruit without concern over chemical leaching from the plastic. Non-certified utility tubs carry no such assurance, which matters if you grow food. If your garden is purely ornamental, this feature matters less — but it costs nothing and adds resale flexibility if you ever start a vegetable patch.
Choosing Between the Blue and Green Large Tubs
Since the two 10-gallon tubs are identical apart from color, the decision comes down to two practical factors. First, price: check both listings, because one is frequently cheaper than the other for no functional reason. Second, where the tub will live. If it stays on a patio, by the compost heap, or near the stable, either color works. If you carry it around the garden and set it down as you work, the blue’s visibility saves real time hunting for it in beds and borders. Green earns its place when you want equipment that blends in or when it’s the better deal that day.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can these flexible tubs replace a traditional lidded storage tote?
Not entirely, and I’d caution against treating them as a one-for-one swap. Flexible tubs excel at moving and mixing — carrying soil, harvesting produce, soaking trays, dumping clippings — because you can bend, pinch, and pour them. But none of these three tubs ships with a lid, so anything stored in them is exposed to rain, dust, sun, and rodents. For sealed storage of seeds, fertilizers, hand tools, or anything moisture-sensitive, a rigid lidded tote is still the right tool. The strongest setup for most gardeners is a pair: a flexible tub for daily work and a lidded tote for long-term storage.
How much weight can a 10-gallon tub actually hold when full?
The tub itself handles the load — the reinforced molded handles and flexible body are built for it — but the practical limit is you. Water weighs about 8.3 pounds per gallon, so a full 10-gallon tub of water is roughly 83 pounds before you count the tub. Wet soil and soaked compost land in a similar range, often 60 to 75 pounds for a full load. Most people find that heavy but manageable for short carries, and the two-handle design lets you split the load between two people when needed. If that sounds like too much, the 6.8-gallon medium keeps full loads in a much friendlier range, or you can simply fill the large tub two-thirds full.
Will these tubs crack if left outside through winter?
Cracking from frost is a specific failure of cheap plastic, and all three of these tubs are explicitly rated as frost-resistant, which means the material stays flexible at low temperatures instead of turning brittle. You can leave them outdoors through freezes, let them collect rainwater that turns to ice, or store them in an unheated shed or greenhouse without shortening their life. The UV resistance matters just as much for the other end of the year: prolonged summer sun degrades ordinary plastic into a chalky, crack-prone shell, while these tubs are formulated to resist that breakdown. That said, any plastic lasts longer sheltered, so if you have shed space, use it.
Which size should I buy if I can only get one tub?
For most gardeners, the 6.8-gallon medium is the safer single purchase, and here’s my reasoning: a smaller tub can always be filled twice, but an oversized tub you can’t lift when full becomes a stationary obstacle. The medium handles potting, weeding rounds, harvesting, tool carrying, and wash duty without strain, and it fits on potting benches and greenhouse shelves where the 18-inch large simply won’t. Choose the 10-gallon size instead only if your routine is dominated by bulk work — moving compost, mulch, gravel, or large harvests — or if you have a helper to share heavy carries. And if your budget stretches to two, pairing the medium with one large covers the full range of garden jobs.
Is food-grade certification really important for a garden tub?
It depends on what you grow and how you use the tub, but it’s a low-cost feature with meaningful upside. Certified food-grade plastic is formulated so it won’t leach chemicals into anything it touches, which matters when you’re washing just-pulled carrots, holding a tomato harvest, or soaking seeds before planting. Non-certified utility tubs carry no such guarantee, and while the actual risk from brief contact is debated, the certification removes the question entirely. If your garden is purely flowers and shrubs, you can safely ignore this spec. If you grow vegetables or fruit — or might someday — it’s one less thing to think about, and all three tubs in this roundup carry it.
Conclusion
After comparing all three, my recommendations break down cleanly by buyer type. If you’re buying one tub for general garden duty, get the Red Gorilla Medium in pistachio — it’s the most versatile size, light enough to carry full, and small enough to live on a potting bench. If you regularly haul soil, compost, mulch, or big harvests, the Large 10-gallon tub in blue is the workhorse you want, and its high-visibility color means you’ll stop losing it in the flower beds. If you want the same 10-gallon capacity in a color that blends into a patio or garden setting, the green version is the pick — and if it’s listed cheaper than the blue, that price difference is the entire decision.
The honest summary of this lineup is that you’re not choosing between good and bad options — you’re choosing between sizes and colors of a genuinely well-designed product. The medium wins on versatility, the large wins on volume, and blue-versus-green comes down to visibility and price. What none of them replaces is a lidded, rigid tote for sealed storage, so if your goal is protecting seeds and tools rather than moving dirt and harvests, pair one of these tubs with a traditional storage box and you’ll have the garden covered from both directions.
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