I drove through a small town last week where they had these really cool lamp posts down each side of their main street. They had hanging baskets of flowers on each side. The flowers sort of filled in and looked like a solid band of color around the post. So I want to make something similar. A post, painted, with baskets and maybe a solar light , (those tacky ones you see lining a drive way ). Small and round that would sit right in the top of the pipe. Does this sound do-able? How is the best way to anchor the post ? Concrete ? I ran this by my husband and got those rolling eyeballs we all love to see. But I really think I can do this by myself. Any suggestions or ideas would be appreciated.

Pretty good, although I haven't really seen any benefit to the valve yet, but expect to use it later in the season as the weather cools. It's been a very warm and dry season so far, so there hasn't been any reason to limit water. Part of the reason I haven't seen any benefit to the valve yet is I changed my methods this year. I've been using my SWCs as just regular top-watered containers until the plants are well established, then adding the fertilizer strip, plastic mulch cover, and filling the reservoir when the plant starts to get big and/or I have to start watering frequently. The Sungold in the prototype unit large and productive, but the wicking did fail once during the extreme heat and I had to top water once to restart it. I built 3 of these, the last 2 use 8 wicks in the frame and those didn't have that problem. I need to add a couple of holes near the bottom of the fill tubes to make filling faster as there is too much back-pressure with just the valve as the only place for water to enter the reservoir. I'm also considering abandoning the Rubbermaid containers as I don't like how flexible they are, and it's getting hard to find the 14 gallon size I like to use for the bench. I also don't like the large aeration holes in the prototype and prefer to use fiberglass insect screen instead of landscape fabric. In fact I think I like using the 'dual tote' method of stacking a 14 gallon inside an 18 gallon instead of using a cut tote flipped for the soil bench. Using the PVC pipe frame for support of the cage works extremely well, and I use the method in all my 18 gallon tote SWCs. Here's a pic of a PVC frame that is just for soil bench and cage support: I haven't come to any firm conclusion about using wicks vs. wicking chamber, but I really like using the wicks in my bucket SWCs for convenience reasons. I've also been testing Engineeredgarden's method of using just one or 2 very small holes in the wicking chamber and find those containers are working fine. Also, my in ground tomato plants are doing better than their 18 gallon SWC counterparts, but growing conditions this year are ideal for in-ground, and the SWC tomatoes were both transplanted later and got less sunlight early on. I've been surprised how well the in ground tomatoes are doing water-wise in the extreme heat we've been having.

I think I stole this idea from another poster. I use drainage pipe. http://www.garden.ie/gardeningskills.aspx?id=553 It's cheap, especially when bought in 100' rolls. Be sure and get the perforated kind. Comes in various diamteres. Assuming 5" diameter for this post It helps to have a mitre saw, or you will be sad. cut at 1" longer than the height you want your water tank at. So assuming 5", cut it 6". get a compass or similar tool and mark a circle on the tank part where you want the wicking basket to be. Make it a bit over the inner diameter of the drainage pipe. You have some wiggle room so don't be too nervous. get an left cut(if you're right handed) aviation snips and a box cutters. Like these http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stanley-Aviation-Snip-Offset-2-14-567/dp/B0001IWB2G a thinner blade is better than the wide ones. on your circle, starting 1-1.5" outside, cut with the razor about 1/4 the way into the circle Kind of a pac man shape, with his tongue sticking out. Use aviation snips to cut the circle out. with a little practice, you can now screw the drainage pipe into the hole. I turned out 30 'tainers in... I'd dunno, a couple minutes each each this way. Extra credit: you have 2 of the same containers per earth'tainer. do NOT cut the other one to make a tank. instead cut 4 more drainage pipes at 5" lengths put container where you want it to be all season. drop one in each corner make the pac man hole /drainage pipe in the second container put in drainage pipe in second contanier drop container into first with he 4 5" pipes in each corner. fill with preferred mix. done. and you now have a ~5 gallon larger container for the same price. packs up nice and small at the end of season, and very quickly too. Probably cheaper as well.

Johnny, if you are really concerned about PVC, then you might consider CPVC which is approved for interior HOT water piping. That article you show the link for is a bit dated. Schedule 40 PVC is currently government approved for carrying potable water from main supplies into homes and businesses all over the country. Standard PVC (New Schedule 40 and even older stuff) will not begin to outgas under heat until the temperature reaches at least 155F and only then under a pressure of 3 atmospheres over a period of several days. IF the house you live in was built in the last 15 years, then it is extremely likely you have PVC in one form of another from the road all the way into your house and CPVC throughout your home's distribution system - hot and cold. PolyVinylChloride - ain't it amazing how much is around. Even if ..if .. if a molecule leached out into the water reservoir on a SWC, it is unlikely the tomato could pull that into its root system and deliver it to a fruit. The molecule is too large to pass thru the stem to fruit membrane - you know, the one that shuts down to let the fruit ripen. And, wouldn't nursery pots be made of something different?? And if the outgasing was easily achieved and was a concern, wouldn't the color at least be lighter and not "max heat absorbing Black"??? I see it as a NON-issue. If you're really concerned, request a MSDS from the manufacturer. Material Safety Data Sheets are required by law and must be available free to anyone who requests them. Ted