Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Linda,

Why do you dump out the oil soil? I just add some fresh compost, turn it over and replant.

I was going to mention the same thing - the soil in EBs doesn't need to be discarded.

The Earth Box is a 'system' that gets replaced every year.
There are layers of soil and nutrients. I guess if I knew anything about gardening I could do it myself with the old soil but I took the lazy route and did what the instructions said and emptied the container in order to start with new components.

Check out youtube - there is somebody there that has had Earthboxes in service for 6 years, just topping off the fertilizers and promix. Earthbox used to have a forum, but it's gone now.

Thanks, Dave, that'll be a lot easier than having to start over every year!

I'm just doing herbs this year. Thyme, oregano, mint, rosemary, and two types of basil (Genovese for pesto and a beautiful bushy style for general cooking). My garden was not suited to tomatoes, so I did a flower bed in that planter instead this year. I'll go to the farmers market for those instead.

Linda (and any other Earthbox users): I just got an email today telling us that earthbox.com is bringing back the forum soon. It crashed several months ago, and I figured that the new owners of the company were just going to forget about it (even though it was a good selling tool). I'll let you know when I find out when it's back. It was a good forum, where I learned a lot about it, esp. early on.

FYI, here's what I currently have planted:

* Early girl tomatoes
* Sweet 100 Tomatoes
* 1 san marzano plant by the side of the house
* Ground cherries
* Lettuce, assorted
* Garlic (still volunteers)
* Snap peas
* Lipstick peppers
* Genovese basil
* Thai basil
* Lemon cucumbers
* rainbow chard
* Tuscan Kale
* Huckleberries
* Raspberries
* Chiogga beets

However, since the rain lasted through April, and we've had a number of cold fronts go through (even now it's 65F and raining out), none of the hot weather plants are doing well (tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, etc.), except for the San Marzano (go figure). The cold weather stuff, especially the lettuce, is doing great, so green salads are currently a big feature in our diet.

Nice list, Fuzzy! I've had sort of the same problem with cool nights here, though the peppers I put in at the normal time - mid-May - are the only ones that just aren't doing much. I have some tomatoes in EBs that are above my shoulders, though nothing even close to a full grown one on any of those cherry tomatoes, but they are loaded!

Dave,

We found out about ground cherries last year, when a friend grew them. They do well in Oregon. They're a relative of tomatillos, only they are smaller, yellow, and taste a lot like pineapple.