Thursday, May 23, 2013

Will this really make for great tomatoes?

My new experiment - using a Grow Box for my tomatoes this year. I read about this planter in a garden magazine, for last several years have seen inserts about it; looked it up on line and everyone who uses it says it produces fantastic results! 

You get 16 qts of potting soil, and put it in the top part of the planter. Put in the plants, and then cover the soil with a coir mat that comes with the Grow Box. The stems of the plants poke thru the edge of the mat. This mat has some fertilizer built in that immediately begins to disintegrate into the soil.

The top part of the planter is placed on a bottom trough that you fill with water. The planter has holes in the bottom so that the plant roots will descend into the trough of water and stay nourished. You keep the trough filled.

What I found is that as I was assembling the planter and placing on the trough, it didn't fit as tightly or securely as the instructions said it would. The plastic on the trough was not in complete alignment. So I got out my duct tape and taped it together. I won't be able to move the planter until the season is over. But, I don't really think the planter was made to be moved around, even with a perfect match between the two parts.