Watch this video that few have seen. It features a Google chef and a local master gardener from Santa Clara County. Their presentation of the benefits of EarthBox gardening is persuasive.
If you have an open, inquiring mind, you will likely wonder as I do why the news about EarthBox gardening and sub-irrigation (aka self-watering) is virtually ignored by the mainstream media, USDA extension program agents and urban botanical institutions.
It is a testimony to our antiquated horticultural education that is stuck in an out-of-date dirt gardening paradigm inappropriate to urban living. It is quite amazing that we have so many academics with master’s degrees and doctorates that apparently do not understand the fundamentals of capillary action and plant physiology, no less urban living.
If you think I have some connection to EarthBox, you are mistaken. They just happen to have the most commercially visible product at this time. I have no connection whatsoever to EarthBox. My advocacy is simply about growing food and feeding people in the city using the most environmentally sound and productive methods available.
Anyone can easily prove the following for themselves, no institutional help required. Simply plant one or more SIP boxes or buckets this season and you will see with your own eyes.
Benefits of sub-irrigation planter (SIP) gardening including the EarthBox, Tomato Success Kit, Garden Patch Grow Box, EarthTainer and all other properly made DIY SIP planters. There is no patent on capillary action.
Increased production – SIP vegetable gardening will out-produce all other methods including in-ground and raised beds with drip irrigation.
Safe food production – Sub-irrigation box, bed and bucket planters will produce contaminant free food. Unlike dirt gardening in the city, there is no exposure to native soil contaminants.
Water conservation – All of the water (and nutrients) go directly to the plants. There is no wasteful drainage.
Portability – SIPs can be located anywhere there is adequate sunlight regardless of access to tillable land. Personal, neighborhood and community gardens can be located temporarily and easily moved when necessary.
Sustainability – SIPs and the soil mix in them is reusable season after season. Yes, there is an initial cost but they are not consumables. Currently, there are business plans based on a 7-year useful life. Time will tell whether this is an accurate useful life.
That was a very inspiring video. I had never heard of Earthbox until I found your blog. I purchased one about a month ago and my plants are doing a lot better than when I tried a conventional container. I'm one of those black thumbed people so the Earthbox was my desperate attempt to get it right and so far, so good.
I'm not sure why you don't hear more about Earthbox in gardening circles. Maybe people just want to pull weeds and test their soil. Who knows. But I think there's also some public ignorance based on conventional container growing. I've seen comments all over the place from people who don't use an Earthbox who say that it's not big enough for root systems or that there are too many plants in them and even some questions about stagnating water. So there needs to be better education about how it works and debunk some myths.
Posted by: graciela | June 11, 2009 at 03:46 PM
Sorry for overlooking your comment Graciela. Thanks for posting it. I'm glad that you discovered the many benefits of sub-irrigated planter (SIPs) like the EarthBox. The good news about them is slowing spreading thanks to people like you reporting their positive experiences.
Posted by: Greenscaper | March 18, 2010 at 08:35 AM