Thanks to a comment from a reader known as "littlefish", I learned about a new EarthBox type sub-irrigated planter (SIP) called the City Pickers.
The big news is that it is available at Home Depot. I have never agreed with the EarthBox policy of not distributing through big box stores. It was inevitable that this policy would open the door to a competitive product. So, here it is.
Incidentally, like the EarthBox, it is also made (or imported) by a company in Pennsylvania.
I should have my City Pickers SIP in the next few days. It retails for $20.97 online. It cost me $31.56 including 2-day shipping and tax. Buy $249 worth and they ship free.
As many of you know I have a plant lab in my apartment but no yard. The City Pickers SIP is going out on the fire escape where I grew some vegetables back in 2009.
I will plant it with salad greens. Stay tuned for much more about this planter including an array of closeup photos.
Please comment if you have seen this at Home Depot and if you have any experience with it. Your information will be most helpful to other readers.
Turn your patio into a personal garden with the City Pickers 24-1/2 in. Patio Garden Kit. The self-contained watering system automatically waters your plants and has drainage holes to help prevent over watering. The mulch cover helps prevent weed growth, and the aeration screen helps provide a sufficient amount of air to the plant roots.
* Assembled dimension: 24.25 in. W x 20.25 in. D x 9.5 in. H
* Self-contained watering system automatically waters plants, holds up to 2 gallons and has drainage holes to prevent over watering
* Aeration screen helps provide the proper amount of air to plant roots
* Mulch cover helps eliminate weeds and conserve water
* Casters allow for easy movement
* Includes setup instructions and gardening instructions and tips
* Made from durable, UV-protected resin
thought you'd like it Bob. i'd be interested to see how these compare with EB as far as yields given the shallower 'dirt' depth. probably for greens, not one bit. curious about tomatoes, et al. though. tomatoes may end up sinking their roots in that pool on the bottom in more of a 'hydroponic' style. this thing might do wonders to disprove Mr. Triscuit's root rot rantings once and for all.
also, i know you prefer strictly potting mix, but for those who like to amend their soils to get more aeration in their containers, the home depot in queens also has pine bark fines from LI Compost for $3 a big bag. can't beat the price and locally harvested to boot.
excuse me if you have touched on this subject before, but one thing i still can't get my head around is the whole strip of dolomite thing. i understand why it's there and how useful it is for the roots have a layer always there to find Ca & Mg, but EB insists that without that layer, the whole system fails.
i don't know why it's so radically different from just mixing in the proper ratio of dolomite into your potting mix, other than it's idiot proof. thoughts?
Posted by: littlefish | April 15, 2011 at 08:05 AM
Im trying the city pickers for the first time this year. They look the same as ebs that i used years ago except bigger. I paid 29.98 for mine from Home Depot.
Posted by: nelda isom | April 21, 2011 at 09:23 AM
Im using the city pickers for the first time this year. I bought them at Home Depot for 30.00 each.
Posted by: nelda isom | April 21, 2011 at 09:29 AM
would like to know how these city pickers work out
Posted by: wogs | April 21, 2011 at 11:10 AM
The dolomite isn't put in the fertilizer strip, rather mixed into the top 3 to 4 inches of soil.
Posted by: Julie | April 21, 2011 at 02:31 PM
The Home Depot website now shows the price as $29.97.
Posted by: Melissa | April 23, 2011 at 08:07 PM
This is a link to Home Depot that shows the price of the City Pickers still at $20.97.
http://bit.ly/h019pn
Where are you located Melissa?
Posted by: Greenscaper | April 23, 2011 at 10:27 PM
Strange. I see the $29.97 price when I load the Home Depot website at home, and $20.97 price at work. Oh- my local store is different. Apparently the online price is higher with an Atlanta zip code (30304) than upper GA zip code (30525). That's pretty ridiculous.
Posted by: Melissa | April 26, 2011 at 05:52 PM
I bought 4 city pickers at my local Home Depot for $29.97. When I came home I Googled it and found them priced at $20.97 at homedepot.com (this item is priced differently based on your home store's zip code). I brought my original receipt back to home depot with a print out of the lower online price and they refunded me the difference. They also honored the online line price in the store and I bought 5 more. Call your local home depot and see if they will do the same.
If you go to homedepot.com and you find the City Pickers @ $29.97 you have to go to your home store location and play with the zip codes to find an area that they are priced @ $20.97 (try 48823 this worked for me). If you would like to buy online at this price simple check out as a guest and you are good to go. Home Depot currently has free shipping on orders that are $49.00 and up. Good Luck friends.
Posted by: Rachael | May 04, 2011 at 03:57 PM
Your information is very helpful and most interesting about H.D. pricing Rachael. Thanks for posting it.
Posted by: Greenscaper | May 04, 2011 at 04:12 PM
FYI: Dolomite is also called garden lime its a powder that can be found at Home Depot in the section for garden fertilizers and pest control. I bought a large 15-20lb bag for about 5 bucks.
Posted by: Drew | May 09, 2011 at 02:02 PM
Update on my 9 City Pickers. They are doing fabulous! Wow, I never imagined that they would do so well. I have tons of stuff growing. I will be making a series of video documententing the progress. Check it out!http://youtu.be/EtzQxWOX7N4
Posted by: Rachael | June 03, 2011 at 10:48 AM
Does anyone know what these things are made of? Earthbox is made of food safe plastic and I want to be sure we are growing in something that is safe and won't leach chemicals into our food. Can you can plant more on these than in an earth box? Using more space horizontally is a waste of space unless there is some benefit to the design other than to avoid a lawsuit. I've always wondered why someone doesn't make a deeper earthbox planter.
Posted by: Mark | March 25, 2012 at 07:25 PM
I used four of these last year. I don't recommend growing more than six plants in a container. It's a great way to grow lettuce. The viney vegetables get to be a problem though because the container is too shallow to keep a stake upright. The other problem I had was the squirrels. They ate everything except the peppers and the arugula. I notice Home Depot is offering various greenhouse contraptions this year. My problem now is that I don't know whether I can use the same soil in my city picker planters as last year or do I need to amend it in some way. Anyone know?
Posted by: Angela | May 02, 2012 at 03:35 PM
I purchased two of these from HD. I live in NJ, and I actually paid less than $15. each. I'm going to get two more because we ran out of space to plant everything we want to grow.
http://evelynburbangardening.tumblr.com/
Posted by: Evelynwrites | May 12, 2012 at 11:08 AM
This is the first time using the city picker and was reading over the instructions, is it that necessary to use the potting mix. Will potting soil work? Also I am seeing mixed reviews about planting tomatoes, any tips? How about eggplant? I just got into gardening last year and really got into it, so any tips or ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Posted by: sand flea | May 16, 2012 at 10:55 PM