Organic Gardening the Easy Way

My 3-year old son loves tomatoes. So much so that he befriended one. It was sitting there, red and ripe and growing plump, in our container garden, and he saw it, plucked it, and brought it home. Not to eat, mind you, that would be an atrocity. No, just to hold and pet and talk to. And carry around the house, and show us every five minutes. Yes, my son has an unusual affinity for vegetables.

The tomato is rather unremarkable in and of itself - how it came to be is a more interesting story. You see, we planted it in a box in our back yard. Why in a box, you ask? Well, my friend, let me tell you. If you're like us, and live in a relatively nice middle-class house in suburbia, you probably have a postage stamp sized yard, just like us. Our yard is not just small, it's disintegrating. Well, eroding is a probably the most accurate word, but thanks to the gophers, it collapses under our feet when we try to mow, so disintegrating it is.

Needless to say, between the creek slowly washing away what's left of the lawn behind our house, and the gophers doing their level best to undermine the foundation of our house, a garden was out of the question.

But where there's a will, there's a way. And let me tell you, my friend, I have a will. So I got my way. I got Earth Boxes.

"What are Earth Boxes?" you may be asking. Well, let me tell you, they're the answer to the problems facing folks like us with beautiful homes but no yards to speak of, who want a garden. They're extremely durable, ingeniously designed containers for gardens of any size. The boxes have a reservoir in the bottom to hold water, a plate with small holes in it to allow the water to flow up through the soil, and a nifty wicking design that pulls the water up through the soil like a sponge.

They work like this: you fill the box with soil, tamping it down firmly in the corners where there are open spaces for just this purpose - these corners act like wicks to draw the water up and distribute it evenly throughout the box. The screen on the bottom which rests on top of the water reservoir also helps pull water through the soil. Then a cover over the top keeps your plants from drying out (not to mention keeps weeds out!). Last but not least, a tube in another corner allows you to stick the hose in and 'fill 'er up!' whenever it gets a little dry. There are drainage slots along the top of the reservoir so you can't over-water. Ingenious!

The folks at Earth Box even include a diagram showing how many of what types of plants you can plant in your box, and I was just amazed to learn that you can plant anything from a little carrot plant to a crop of corn! (we actually have corn growing right now - its about 6 feet tall right now).

You can choose to purchase just the box, or a box with casters, or go nuts and get a box with soil, fertilizer, casters... everything but the plants! We opted for just the box, as I wanted an organic garden.

With organic soil as recommended by Earth Box, organic fertilizer, and some agricultural lime, we started our first container garden, and now we're beginning to enjoy our first organic produce of the season. The cost of the boxes will of course make it more expensive than buying organic produce for the first year or two, but these things are made to last, and in years to come, we'll be enjoying absolutely authentic, home-grown organic produce for just pennies per crop!

Check them out at www.earthbox.com - you'll be glad you did!