Gardening Experiment

Last summer I grew tomatoes in Earth Boxes that I bought at a garden store.  I had good success and wanted to expand my garden boxes this year.  I decided to attempt to make my own boxes since the store bought variety are rather pricey.  Today I will share pictures of the process of making the boxes and later I will show how they are progressing.  I planted some things in the ground so that I can make comparisons and see which method works best in my area.  The green box is the Earth Box.  I bought four tubs with lids at my local big box hardware store to make my version of growing boxes.

The first step was to cut the inside of the lid as shown.

I bought a 5 foot length of PVC and cut sixteen 2 1/2 inch pieces.  The remaining piece will serve as the watering spout so I cut it angled at the bottom.

I bought these little plastic boxes and made holes on all sides and the bottom.

Using the box as a pattern, I cut out a square in 2 corners of the lid section where the boxes would go.  In one corner, I cut out a circle for the watering spout. I drew a grid on the lid and drilled a drainage hole everywhere the lines crossed. (That was the tedious part)

To set up the box, I placed the 2 1/2 inch pipe supports all around the bottom of the tub.  After placing the lid section over the supports, I added the 2 boxes and the spout.  The other blue box that you can't see is in the bottom right corner of the tub.  These blue boxes are filled with potting mix and then the rest of the tub is filled.  Water from the reservoir is wicked up from the soil in the blue boxes. You also have to drill a hole in the tub 2 1/2 inches from the bottom.  That way, if you over water, the excess will drain out.

Fill the tub with potting mix and add garden lime (with dolomite).  Mix the lime in the top 5 inches of potting mix.

I put fertilizer in a panty hose leg, placed it in the tub, then covered with more potting mix.  The panty hose makes it easy to remove any fertilizer remnants at the end of the season.  That way, you can reuse the same mix next year.  The fertilizer strip location is determined by what you plant in the tub.  Sometimes it goes in the middle and sometimes on the side.  I referred to the Earth Box web site planting guide.

The final step is to cover with plastic, plant, and water.  You water until you see run off coming out of the drainage hole.  I planted three different peppers, spinach, yellow squash, zucchini, tomatoes, and cucumbers.  They are all doing extremely well.  Next time I will post pictures of the progress since these were planted.