One of the first things I purchased when I began my back porch garden was an Earthbox. I purchased it after a bit of research and it has turned out to be one of the best investments I've made.
The Earthbox is a Sub-Irrigated Planter or SIP. There are a number of SIPs commercially available from a variety of different manufactures. There is of course the aforementioned
Earthbox as well as the
City Pickers Patio Garden,
Growbox from Garden Patch,
Growums Garden Kit and the
FEJÖ from Ikea.
All SIPs feature a reservoir chamber at the bottom of the planter that is filled with water through a tube, plastic pipe or other opening. The water is then soaks or wicks upward into the soil through capillary action. The chamber features an overflow hole which prevents over-watering making the planter pretty much fool proof. As long as you fill the reservoir full each day then it is practically impossible to over or under water your plants.
With the exception of the Fejö which is designed for houseplants, all of the SIPs are meant for vegetable or herb gardening. Depending on the size of the plant, most of the SIPs listed above will hold from 2 plants (tomatoes, eggplant, squash, etc) to 16 (carrots, radishes, corn, etc). Their size coupled with their tremendous yield allow a back porch gardener to grow a nice variety of vegetables in just a few boxes. No you're not going to outgrow someone with an acre garden but if you have a few square feet to spare on a patio or deck then you could provide plenty of tomatoes or zucchini for your family over the summer and maybe have a few spare to give away to a neighbor.
The Earthbox has some additional features which made me choose it over the other available planters. The Earthbox ships with a plastic mulch cover that fits snugly over the planter which keeps the soil from drying out too quickly as well as prevent weeds from taking root. I've used Earthboxes for a season and a half at this point and I've yet to have to pick a single weed form any of them.
Earthboxes also have available casters which make them easy to move around. I have a fairly large back deck so I spread my planters around to give each one space but I can at a moments notice roll them all into a corner allowing access to the majority of my deck.
Earthboxes can be sold as a planter only or in a ready-to-grow kit complete with pre-measured packets of fertilizer and dolomite as well as casters and a bag of soil. They are available through many local garden supply stores as well as from Amazon and the Earthbox online store. A planter only kit is only a $33 investment, whereas a ready-to-grow packager will run about $55 for regular fertilizer and $60 for organic fertilizer.
You will see me mention the Earthbox frequently though the course of this blog. It is a product I can without any hesitation wholeheartedly recommend. This is not meant as a slight to any of the other brand SIPs. I actually look forward to trying one fo them out at sometime in the future. For the moment however, most of my vegetables will find their home in an Earthbox.
