Product Review: Earthboxes Make Container Gardening Simple

One of the best tastes of summer is a juicy, farm-stand-fresh tomato. With a little effort and an Earthbox, you can have pounds of tomatoes - and other fruits and vegetables - growing in your own backyard, deck, patio, terrace, or even inside.

The Earthbox system is container gardening at its best: low-maintenance and guesswork free. After setting up the box all you need is regular watering and 6-8 hours of daily sunlight.

Earthboxes can be purchased through the Web site www.earthbox.com. The boxes are available in three colors - green, terra cotta, and white - and cost $59.95 for the "Ready to Grow Kit" and $64.95 for the "Organic Complete Ready to Grow Kit" (discounted pricing is available for multiple boxes in a single order). The difference between the two is the type of potting mix, fertilizer type, and dolomite included with the kit. Regardless of which system you choose, with Earthboxes your plants are pesticide free.

Earthbox Basics

Earthboxes are incredibly user-friendly and come with a detailed, eight-step illustrated instruction sheet. The Earthbox gradient system controls soil conditions, fertilizer, and water for the plants, which establishes conditions for a high garden yield. The Earthbox dimensions are 29L x 14W x 11H, large enough to grow a quantity of fruits and vegetables and small enough to even suit apartment living.

Unlike traditional gardening, or even container gardening, with Earthboxes the only tending necessary is a few steps. Plants thrive in Earthboxes and live up to the easy-care advertising claims. Even "black-thumb" gardeners can 1) Always keep the cover over the soil and fertilizer; 2) Always keep the water reservoir full; and, 3) Place non-soluble fertilizer on top of the soil. You pick the ripe fruits and vegetables, occasionally prune dead leaves and/or vines, and make stake adjustments. The black plastic cover eliminates the need to weed or add additional fertilizer.

Details

The Earthbox system uses a layering technique: water, soil, fertilizer, cover (from bottom to top). A lattice-style aeration screen at the bottom of the Earthbox separates the water reservoir and the soil; instead of directly watering the soil, you pour water into a fill tube. At setup, the fertilizer is concentrated in a strip on the top layer of potting mix instead of near the plant roots and as water is added the nutrients slowly dilute down to the plant roots. This ensures that plants absorb optimal amounts of nutrients and water at any given time. Additionally, the plastic cover reduces the rate of water evaporation and inhibits the invasion of pests and mold on the plants and soil.

It comes with detailed instructions about setting up the actual box and includes a best results legend for placement of 32 different plants. For example, in each box you use two (2) tomato seedlings, eight (8) pepper seedlings, two (2) eggplant seedlings, 16 peas seedlings, or a combination thereof (i.e. one tomato seedlings and four pepper seedlings). The Earthbox also includes specific tomato care instructions.

Recently, the Earthbox re-designed its frame to include casters and a staking system. Once filled with soil, the boxes are very heavy to move and the casters allow the boxes to be more easily moved inside or out, to the maximum sunlight, or to other convenient locations. The new staking system includes durable plastic stakes with clips, and links to the caster system. Both improvements further increase the system's usefulness. The initial high cost is well worth the investment because you are virtually guaranteed a large fruit or vegetable crop.

An additional benefit to using Earthboxes is the ease of replanting and winterizing because the potting mix typically can be used 5-6 seasons. At the end of the growing season simply remove the old plants, dig out the fertilizer strip, and seal the box with a new cover. In the next season, top off the box with wet potting mix, add a new fertilizer strip, and replant. One caution about following this arrangement is if you had mold, pests, or a bacteria infection in the previous season. For example, if the tomato plant was infected by the verticillium bacteria, your next crop will likely have the same disease if you use the same soil. In these instances, you will need to empty the potting mix, clean the box with a bleach solution, and start afresh in the next growing season.

Considerations

The Earthbox system does have a few issues, primarily with the cover. At initial set up, you cut holes in the plastic cover just large enough for the plants to grow through. The cover is tight to create a seal but will rip with an overly aggressive tug. Though not quite as simple, gardeners can also use black garbage bags and twine in place of the cover for the same effect. Additionally, there is no warning when the water reservoir is full and so water quickly pours out of the overflow hole. This both wastes water and can make a mess, especially indoors. The overflow hole accepts a 5/8 inch tube to redirect water drainage, but it becomes another step at each watering.

Earthboxes enable novice gardeners with little space and/or time to experience the delicious wonder of home grown fruits and vegetables. In many ways, Earthboxes are training wheel gardening tools that will get you hooked on having readily accessible, beautiful vegetables right in your home.