Growing at the Speed of Life - A Year in the Life of My First Kitchen Garden

Its sister box, made for the U.S. market, comes complete with castors, earth,

and fertilizer, and very good, simple instructions. In a matter of minutes you can

be in business, growing a small crop of edibles in a very limited space that gets 7
or more hours of sun on a clear day.

I included this concept in my most-wanted list because it occurred to me that

there might be a lot of people like me who feel the growing urge but who may not

be ready to tackle a bigger project or may simply not have the space. Th e Earth-

Box can provide that perfect solution. The small crops and very low maintenance

make an excellent way of getting a taste for the difference that fresh makes.
In my first year, I used two boxes in the greenhouse (although they can be

used outside as soon as the weather permits). I filled one with the provided soil

and fertilizer and the other, by way of my own need to experiment, with Coco-

Coir and Intrepid organic fertilizer. I put three identical tomato starts in each

box. (I did this to test the included fertilizer against my own input into my own

soil selection. I wanted to be able to continue to use the container without de­
pending on the manufacturer’s special extras.) The only difference was that I

placed the box in which I’d used the Coco-Coir mixture closer to the sun.

My experiment was interesting. I got more pounds of fruit earlier from the

Coco-Coir box. From the box using the supplied provisions, I got huge vigorous

growth but a little less fruit. Next year I’ll put them side by side, so that they get

equal sun exposure.
I also planted a cluster of lettuces—red leaf, oak leaf, romaine (cos), and curly

endive—in one EarthBox and filled two others with basil and late-season straw­

berries. Everything burst forth and was, to my mind, hugely successful. I should

add that the instructions are very clear, but I still

didn’t get everything right. I put too

many tomatoes in each box. Two plants
is plenty; three get in each other’s way.

One of my pals, an expert in all things,

had never worked with an EarthBox before

and so mixed the fertilizer into the pot­

ting mix instead of laying it in a shal-

MY NEED-TO-KNOW LIST • 27