JumpyTheFrog Posted March 3, 2017 Share Posted March 3, 2017 I didn't garden last year because I'm sick of weeding, etc. The kids are trying to tempt me to get back into it this year. Are Earthboxes (or equivalent) worth the expense? Do they greatly reduce the hassle of gardening? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsheresomewhere Posted March 3, 2017 Share Posted March 3, 2017 I like them for certain things. I use ours for growing lettuce. I have grown corn in them. I do have to weed them as I will not spend money to replace the covers ( my boxes are 8ish years old). My regular garden grows everything else. I use hay to control weeds. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lecka Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 (edited) I had a rival brand of self-watering planter. I can't remember the name. My tomatoes and eggplants did great. Just great. It was easy to set up and the plants did well. Here are the cons: Need to use a mosquito thing to keep mosquitoes from brewing in the reservoir. It was difficult to have supports for the plants with my boxes located on concrete. I had a support kit but the tomatoes overwhelmed it. In the future I would have the boxes located where I could stake into the ground for good support (this with a different brand though). In hot weather the reservoir needs to be filled daily and even twice a day. In hot weather if you go 3 days without watering the plants will be really suffering. As far as missing a day of watering, it is not as forgiving as in-ground plants. This is my biggest problem if I ever go on a trip. It is the same with in-ground but I didn't realize it would be this way. I thought I could fill the reservoir and it would stay full! No. Not in hot weather. In cooler weather yeah it can just need watering 2x/week. Definitely locate the plants where they are convenient to a hose. Spraying into the reservoir is okay, but it is easier to be close enough to just stick the hose in the reservoir and walk away until it is full. The kind I got supposedly rolled on casters. No. Unless you put them on wagons, once you will them they are very difficult to move. The kind I have sends an email of pictures people send in. Quite a few are shown set on wagons. I think the casters might be meant for while they are empty and I just didn't realize. When they are full they really are unwieldy. I would do it again if I had a location that was both near a hose and where I could have good staking, and where my kids wouldn't knock into it or have balls bounce into it. And if I knew I could reliably water all through the hot times or have someone water for me. Bc I really did have good results! It is just that I didn't realize some things about my location (convenient for the plants vs my kids using the backyard to play) and then the main thing -- I thought I could fill the reservoir and it would last for a week while I went on a short visit: that was totally unrealistic for how my climate is and the size of the reservoir for the brand I bought. I just remembered the brand I got was The Garden Patch. Edit: I just remembered -- we moved and didn't have as much sun near the house. When I got them I had a concrete pad I set them on, and put staking in the ground by the concrete pad, and had full sun right there, and the faucet right there, and didn't travel at all from April through July.... with July maybe being the most important time to stay on top of water. The plants get thirstier as they get bigger. I have been traveling to see my sister who can only take time off in July for the past few years and it doesn't work. Edited March 4, 2017 by Lecka 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lecka Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 With my caveats ---- it really was hassle free once it was set up. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 Last year I used EMSCO's city picker raised box. It was a huge success. I did herbs and bell peppers and they did GREAT. I used the cover that came with it- it was like a heavy duty black plastic like a heavy trash bag. The rubber band broke halfway through the season but I used tape to hold it on. I filled it with water every two or three days but I live in the midwest so that might have extended time between waterings. I'm buying more this year when they hit the shelves at Home Depot. Amazon has them but they're a lot more expensive. HD price was about $25. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FriedClams Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 I have a few of them and I think they're amazing. They take an hour or two to set everything up, then all you do is water and harvest. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lecka Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 (edited) To be fair with mine on cement or white rocks (ground cover) they may have been sucking up more water. It was also really hot one of the main summers when I was watering twice a day (or 3x over 2 days). And I had huge tomatoes and eggplants ripening, so..... I didn't mind at all when I was home. Very simple to stick the hose in the reservoir. I also used the covers and they do prevent weeds. Edited March 4, 2017 by Lecka 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsheresomewhere Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 You can use a cut up piece of pantyhose/stockings/tights over the tube for the reservoir instead of the mosquito tabs. Just use a rubber band to secure it. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lecka Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 Good to know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEmama Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 You can use a cut up piece of pantyhose/stockings/tights over the tube for the reservoir instead of the mosquito tabs. Just use a rubber band to secure it. Great tip! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 To be fair with mine on cement or white rocks (ground cover) they may have been sucking up more water. It was also really hot one of the main summers when I was watering twice a day (or 3x over 2 days). And I had huge tomatoes and eggplants ripening, so..... I didn't mind at all when I was home. Very simple to stick the hose in the reservoir. I also used the covers and they do prevent weeds. Maybe, but IME, any gardening in containers dries out daily in the heat, no matter where it is placed. I have porch hanging baskets - they are beautiful - but they must be watered every day in the heat. I have large planters - every day in the heat. My herb gardens are in containers, and they must be watered daily in the heat. My SIL tried one of those upside-down tomato hanging planters and this is what she said - every day you must water in the heat. The exposed sides dry the plants out. So, I don't know that it's the concrete necessarily making that problem. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JumpyTheFrog Posted March 4, 2017 Author Share Posted March 4, 2017 It sounds like they require too much watering for them to work well for us because we go away too often. Any other ideas for gardening with minimal weeding? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lecka Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 Maybe square foot gardening? Iirc you start with purchased soil that doesn't have weed seeds in it. I didn't do it but it also looked like it would minimize weeding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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