Second planting of Tomatoes in the EarthBox

I have never tried Tomatoes in an earth box as I have had good luck with them in the garden. I plant Cukes Peppers and Eggplant in mine. This year my Eggplants were coming along great we picked a half dozen or so and they were great then we picked one and the seeds were huge tough and black then we noticed that some of the small ones looked rotten with wrinkled skin just a waste. We intentionally picked them at a small size so they were not overgrown. I am going to pull them out today and not waste any more water on the stupid things.

Good luck with the Tomatoes.

Back here in Illinois our tomatoes are really producing nicely at this stage. I envy guys like you who can squeeze out two crops a year...OTOH you probably don't know the the thrill of freezing your buns clearing snow off your driveway either!

Those tomato plants look good. I just started seeds for broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, brussel sprouts, and sweet peas that are all going into the Earthboxes in a few weeks. I have some jalepenos that will be going into a box this week. It should be interesting since this is my first time growing most of these vegetables and using an Earthbox. Should be interesting.

Hey Ross,
I just started looking at these. What size would you recommend? What else have you grown in them?

Mike

Mike,

I planted two 4" pumpkin plants in the ground. They take a huge amount of space. Each has 3 or 4 vines and those vines mine will grow 6" to 1.5' per day. Right now there is no sign of stopping. One plant has a 30 or 40' span (end of vine to end of vine root being center)

I bought 3 earth boxes this year after reading the different posts. One I put tomatoes in. I put in 3 plants they say only 2 plants more is better right.

They are doing really good. In our hot summer the box probably should be filled or checked morning and night. It is amazing how much water the plants take once they are grown. I tried to keep track of how many tomatoes I pulled of each plant but lost count.

Plenty enough for the wife and I.

I then planted 12 stalks of sweet corn in the other - this was a late season planting. The corn is doing great. From seed to 3 inches took probably 7 to 10 days.

There are two types of earthboxes. I bought the less expensive ones. I didn't buy the upright posts and probably won't next year.

There is no weeding only daily watering. I saw some used earthboxes on ebay earlier year, I wish I would have picked them up. There isn't much (any) of a discount from buying direct or locally.

Next year I am going to follow RRP's tomato planting. Ron has built an upright and uses 5 or 6 pot planters for the plants.

Scallions, I just used a $1.50 walmart 10" x 20" plastic planting box, that is working pretty good too.

I also planted some hanging salsa basket, herb-peper basket and 2 hanging strawberry baskets.

Kent

Mike,

I was reading the corn gives 2 ears per stock. If one plants 12, that's 24 ears. I will let you know how this turns out if they mature before the frost hits. We have 30 to 45 days if it is a normal year.

Someone on the forum planted some watermellon in the earth box. I would really like to see the results.

I read and some pictures somewhere a guy had harvested 150 cucumbers. The vines worked their way up to the top of a carport. The box was loaded.

I am going to watch ebay, if I remember, there should be some lower prices for these this fall/winter.

There are some plans on the internet for making homemade earthboxes. I looked at it but the rubbermaid tubs they use are really wide and take a lot of potting mix.

Kent