Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The Earth Box is an innovative approach to container gardening. The reservoir system ensures that the plants get exactly the water they need. All you have to do is keep the reservoir from drying out, which requires you to fill it every other day or so. You can't over-water - you just fill the reservoir until water comes out the overflow hole. Plants use different amounts of water at different times of their growth, so when I fill the Earth Box every other day, I sometimes topped it off quickly and sometimes needed to fill nearly the entire reservoir. When plants are using more water, it can take a lot of time to fill the reservoir. I set up a rain barrel with a 1.5" flexible tubing and a spigot, which fills the Earth Boxes very quickly. It took forever using a watering can. The fertilizer strip system works wonderfully too, providing adequate nutrients without risk of burning the plants (you don't use slow release fertilizer in the Earth Box). You can use the Earth Box to grow transplants, or to plant from seeds. One word of caution - make sure the cover doesn't cover your plants, especially your emerging seedlings, or the sun will burn the plants. I cut out a square instead of an X for each plant (if the plants are too small to rise above the cover), which increases the chance of weed seed getting into the potting mix but decreases the chance of sunburn. My plants were a little slow to take off, but they out-grew and out-produced my garden plants. The Earth Box is easy to set up and easy to maintain. However, they are heavy once filled. I use a hand truck to move them in for the winter. They are made of durable plastic, but they can be punctured - one of mine got caught on a protruding nail head and now has a hole in the bottom. Also be aware that the Earth Box requires ongoing purchases - at least of the covers which will need to be changed every year. However, you can use your own potting soil and fertilizer.