Thank you for your responses. I suppose my goal is to construct something like an earth-trainer but with removable pots. The terrace is about 40 feet of stairs above the ground level and it'll be rough carrying a 15 gallon container of dry soil up there and then back down come fall. The pots themselves are about 16 inches tall, so would provide at about a foot of soil above the waterline, from where I intend to wick directly into the pot. Looking at Earthtrainer the idea (to me) looks similar: http://www.earthtainer.org/images/earthtainer_diagram_2__18av.jpg But instead of the whole lower section of the pot being submerged only portions of it dip into the water. If this is a critical detail then I could basically add in a layer of filter fabric and filler in the base of the pots so that only a section of the container soil dips into the water - would that address the issue of waterlogging somewhat?

I have two Earth Boxes with tomatoes in each. I used Pro-Mix (purchased from Home Deopt) in one and Jungle Growth (From Lowes) in the other. All four tomatoe plants (2 in each Earthbox) are doing well; however, I did not add any lime to either. Since the Pro-Mix contains lime, those tomatoes are showing no signs of blossom end rot. I have one cherry tomato and one Patio Hybrid in the other box, with the Jungle Growth with no added lime. The cherry tomato is just starting to put out tomatoes, but the patio hybrid is covered with big, green tomatoes. So far I've had to throw out about 10 or 12 of the patio tomatoes due to blossom end rot. I still have about 20 tomatoes on the bush, so I'm hoping to get a few good ones before it's all over. From now on, it's Pro-Mix for my Earth Box tomatoes, or added lime to the mix. BTW, I love the Earth Box for growing tomatoes. I found some plans for building home made boxes using five-gallon buckets and an planning to grow more tomatoes in the future in these self-watering boxes.

They sure do - figuratively and literally! That's why I don't use those containers. I'm always dumping wigglers out of the ones at my Mom's house. But I certainly understand that not everybody has the time or desire to spend time watering every day, I'm not knocking their use. Instead of spending money on the dunks, and if this is physically possible, dumping the water out every 5 days can prevent having any wigglers reach maturity.

To answer the replies to my original post so far: I am thinking self-watering containers to reduce potential problems with insects and other pests (which I can't see) -- a potential problem with in-ground planting, because these containers seem easier to maintain (ie. fertilizer strips), and to lessen the likelihood of me over or under watering. Thank you for telling me about the Florida forum. I will definitely check it out. I also love the cork/wire suggestion for monitoring the water level as well as the suggestion to use bamboo poles to rig up sun shades. My husband, who is also blind, is quite handy with his hands, so he will be able to fashion all these things for me. There is a little bit of an overhang, but it won't offer much shade. Regarding the proper potting mix, I am confused. the earthbox website seems to suggest all you need is their potting mix, dolimite, and fertilizer strip and you are ready to go. Yet on this forum, I keep reading about all kinds of "recipes" for creating the best growing environment and drainage. Mixing up my own stuff is pretty much out of the question, so is there anything that is ready-made that you recommend for the earthbox? And finally, what about mosquitoes? Are they able to breed in the water reservoirs of the earthbox for instance? Linda