Earthbox..what do you grow?

birdermom · March 20, 2015

My Earthboxes (3) arrived and I am very pleased

I think they are going to work well for the dwarfs that I am excited to try this year.
Curious if anyone is growing anything other than tomatoes in them? If so, what plants and how many? Do these work for greens, beans, etc,.....?I could suddenly see a whole garden on my dock.

Sun City Linda · March 20, 2015

When you unpack your stuff you should find a booklet which shows a planting guide for various veggies.

Irv Wiseguy · March 20, 2015

In addition to tomatoes we grow sweet peppers, zucchini squash and corn. Over Winter we grow leaf lettuce, garlic and Brussels sprouts.

I tried head lettuce a few times but got no germination from several different packets of seeds. Don't know what I did wrong with those.

Irv

Ed of Somis · March 20, 2015

bird...you will do well with your dwarfs...if you just follow the directions. The system is tested and true. This winter I ate kale and spinach for months. have fun!

PS what dwarfs are you planting?

ginger2778 · March 20, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by Irv Wiseguy

In addition to tomatoes we grow sweet peppers, zucchini squash and corn. Over Winter we grow leaf lettuce, garlic and Brussels sprouts.

I tried head lettuce a few times but got no germination from several different packets of seeds. Don't know what I did wrong with those.

Irv

Probably seed gone bad. Lettuce seeds dont have much shelf life.

birdermom · March 20, 2015

Corn...how many plants in a planter...what variety? Success?

peebee · March 21, 2015

I grew peppers exclusively cuz they do better in containers for me and did exceptionally well in my EB last year (hence my bumper crop of Padrons which everyone grew sick of). I supplemented my watering with Texas Farms Veg. Fert. since I had a lot leftover and I think that was very helpful. This year I will grow eggplants as those also do well in containers here in my garden.

Irv Wiseguy · March 21, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by ginger2778

Probably seed gone bad. Lettuce seeds dont have much shelf life.

Thanks. I bought seeds from big box stores. Maybe I'll try again in the fall with seeds from a different source.

Quote:

Originally Posted by birdermom

Corn...how many plants in a planter...what variety? Success?

I plant 16 corn in an Earthbox and get an average of 2 ears per plant. Some get 1, I think on one plant I had 3. I was surprised at first that 16 were enough to get full pollination. Maybe it works so well because the plants are crowded up next to each other.

Two issues I've had with corn in an Earthbox are they tend to fall over as they get big so I had to support them with stakes on each end of the Earthbox and a piece of wire run midway up and in a circle around the plants. That was enough to hold them in place. The other issue is the roots grow into the water reservoir so at the end of the season I have to dump the box and clean the roots out. The mix can be saved and reused, though.

My favorite variety is Burpee Silver Choice hybrid. It is the best tasting corn I've ever had. It gets some bad reviews at Burpee's website for poor germination but when I grew it I had 100% germination. I'll be growing it again this year.

The corn I didn't really care for was Golden Cross Bantam hybrid. It tasted bland, nothing special. The seed pack was only 20¢ so I can't complain too much.

Irv

Gardeneer · March 23, 2015

So, how many dwarfs do you plant in an EB ?

What is the difference between a PLANTER and EB ? I am not talking about the size.

Sun City Linda · March 23, 2015

Two dwarfs such as the Dwarf Project. Really small ones, like Lime Green Salad I would plant more. Regular containers are watered from the top and take the nutrients out the bottom as they drain. Earth box is a closed system, it is bottom watered. The water wicks to the roots since the planting medium is high in S. Peatmoss. the nutrients are placed toward the top of the potting medium and stay available to the plants.

TNTiger · March 23, 2015

I have 7 Earthboxes and use them primarily for peppers. I have had amazing results with all sorts of peppers including a bumper crop of Red Bells (one of my favorites). Peppers do much better for me in these because they provide a very consistent level of hydration. Tomatoes also do quite in Earthboxes but they get rather large and difficult to manage.

I did beans one year which I considered to be a waste of my time and EB space. They were good but not special. I also did cauliflower once but it was an epic failure - primarily due to neglect. It turns out that I'm not a good cool weather gardener!

Irv Wiseguy · March 24, 2015

I completely dumped, cleaned and refilled 6 Earthboxes last Sunday. The mix was going on 8 years old and I had some wicking issues last season so I thought it was time to start completely fresh. It was a lot more work than I thought and the job took 5 hours, but now I'm ready for the season.

My tomato and pepper seedlings are hardening off this week and will be planted Saturday. Today I started corn and golden Zucchini. It's one of the greatest weeks of the year.

Irv

Sun City Linda · March 24, 2015

I'd like to try some corn in one of my EBs, do you use a particular kind Irv?

rhines81 · March 24, 2015

Long story short: I have had much better production using 12" spacing (16 plants in a 4x4) with corn than anything else. Over-crowding seems to produce 1/2 developed cobs much like the result of not having enough corn in a group. EB or not, corn needs a little space to get good results. Perhaps multiple EBs grouped together with 2-4 plants each might yield decently, but then again ... I think the EBs can be more efficiently utilized for other things.

Irv Wiseguy · March 25, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sun City Linda

I'd like to try some corn in one of my EBs, do you use a particular kind Irv?

Linda,

My favorite is Silver Choice hybrid from Burpee. It's amazing how much better it tastes than any corn I've ever bought.

If you scroll up to post #8 in this thread I go into more detail about my experience growing corn in an Earthbox.

Irv

March 20, 2015	#1
birdermom Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: Virginia Posts: 116	Earthbox..what do you grow? My Earthboxes (3) arrived and I am very pleased I think they are going to work well for the dwarfs that I am excited to try this year. Curious if anyone is growing anything other than tomatoes in them? If so, what plants and how many? Do these work for greens, beans, etc,.....?I could suddenly see a whole garden on my dock.

March 20, 2015	#2
Sun City Linda Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: SoCal Inland Posts: 2,705	When you unpack your stuff you should find a booklet which shows a planting guide for various veggies.

March 20, 2015	#3
Irv Wiseguy Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Thousand Oaks, CA Posts: 281	In addition to tomatoes we grow sweet peppers, zucchini squash and corn. Over Winter we grow leaf lettuce, garlic and Brussels sprouts. I tried head lettuce a few times but got no germination from several different packets of seeds. Don't know what I did wrong with those. Irv

March 20, 2015	#4
Ed of Somis Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Somis, Ca Posts: 649	bird...you will do well with your dwarfs...if you just follow the directions. The system is tested and true. This winter I ate kale and spinach for months. have fun! PS what dwarfs are you planting?

March 21, 2015	#7
peebee Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Southern CA Posts: 1,714	I grew peppers exclusively cuz they do better in containers for me and did exceptionally well in my EB last year (hence my bumper crop of Padrons which everyone grew sick of). I supplemented my watering with Texas Farms Veg. Fert. since I had a lot leftover and I think that was very helpful. This year I will grow eggplants as those also do well in containers here in my garden.

March 23, 2015	#9
Gardeneer Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: NC - zone 8a - heat zone 7 Posts: 4,922	So, how many dwarfs do you plant in an EB ? What is the difference between a PLANTER and EB ? I am not talking about the size.

March 23, 2015	#11
TNTiger Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: TN Posts: 120	I have 7 Earthboxes and use them primarily for peppers. I have had amazing results with all sorts of peppers including a bumper crop of Red Bells (one of my favorites). Peppers do much better for me in these because they provide a very consistent level of hydration. Tomatoes also do quite in Earthboxes but they get rather large and difficult to manage. I did beans one year which I considered to be a waste of my time and EB space. They were good but not special. I also did cauliflower once but it was an epic failure - primarily due to neglect. It turns out that I'm not a good cool weather gardener!

March 24, 2015	#12
Irv Wiseguy Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Thousand Oaks, CA Posts: 281	I completely dumped, cleaned and refilled 6 Earthboxes last Sunday. The mix was going on 8 years old and I had some wicking issues last season so I thought it was time to start completely fresh. It was a lot more work than I thought and the job took 5 hours, but now I'm ready for the season. My tomato and pepper seedlings are hardening off this week and will be planted Saturday. Today I started corn and golden Zucchini. It's one of the greatest weeks of the year. Irv

March 24, 2015	#14
rhines81 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Zone 5A, Poconos Posts: 959	Long story short: I have had much better production using 12" spacing (16 plants in a 4x4) with corn than anything else. Over-crowding seems to produce 1/2 developed cobs much like the result of not having enough corn in a group. EB or not, corn needs a little space to get good results. Perhaps multiple EBs grouped together with 2-4 plants each might yield decently, but then again ... I think the EBs can be more efficiently utilized for other things.