Hey there! I tried this last year, and had no success at all. I made the mistake of trying to move one a couple feet and the container just broke. The styrofoam basically just fell apart about half way through the season, and I had mounds of dirt. I am not sure if it because I am in Texas and it is usually hotter than you know what in the summer.... I used the 10 and 20 gallon rubbermaid totes from wal mart that are only $3 to $7 each and have had great luck. The ones that are out there right now are 3 years old. Good luck!

I don't think you would have any toxicity concerns, but I am not an expert on that. What I am thinking is that you have a 24 gallon container that you will reduce to 16 gallons if you use styrofoam for 1/3rd the volume. That is roughly a 2 cubic foot container, basically what a commercial earthbox is. 4 plants in that volume of soil is serious over crowding. The planting guide published by earthbox says 2 plants per container of that size, but I only grow one. While your mileage may vary I find the yield per plant drops when more than one is grown in that volume of potting mix. 4 would just be too much crowding of the roots and foliage.

Some landfills have recycling bins for flower pots and are more then happy to let you take as many pots as you want for free. I know that the Citrus county landfill even lets you open the end door of the bin in order to dig though the pots for the best ones. I've even found clay ceramic, and, concrete pots, and lots of plant saucers of various sizes. Some big box stores are also starting bins for recycling flower pots, I know that the Lowes here in Inverness is doing so. I'm just not sure if they'll let you take pots out of their bins. Kara

Dee, they're generally sold by "natural" or "organic" body care companies - Burt's Bees has one, Lush is the most popular, I think, and then there's one called "J.R.Ligget's Original Shampoo Bar", if I remember correctly. It's basically a bar of soap specifically for your hair (supposedly good for shaving too). I've heard of Blue House Soaps too...never tried them though (never tried any, to be exact). The thing that's nice about them is, no plastic (with the possible exception of Lush through the mail)...most are just in cardboard or unwrapped. I'm going to check out the bar sold by Windrift Hill Soaps here in Montana (more local to me, and I really love thier soaps). It does say that it's naturally moisturizing, so we'll see (thier soap certainly is - it's superfatted, so my skin is really super soft and smooth just out of the shower). It's not like I don't have bottles of conditioner laying around that need to be used up, so if I need it, it's here, I was just wondering what other people had experienced with it. :-)