Thanks everyone for your 2 cents! I truly appreciate itâ¦to answer some questions, at this point, I water daily with a wand, avoiding leaves, in the morning before it gets hotâ¦watering of the two boxes takes around 8-10 minutes I'd say (?) and the top generally seems to stay moist all dayâ¦this morning I didn't water long, because the soil already seemed moist (as it usually does in the morning) and I started wondering if I was watering too muchâ¦that's why I think things look dry here. But, there's the rubâ¦most of the advice I'm given polars between too much watering and too littleâ¦I used a soil meter for awhile, but I will try going back to it and see if it helpsâ¦and the beans DO look better since I added more top soil (mostly nursery bought, can't remember the brandâ¦)â¦not as yellow as they did before, but they've been at the same height for a couple of weeks now :-/ And yes, the boxes are open on the bottom, free to root deeper if need be. It should also be noted that I am seriously considering an irrigation system for the boxes, but I don't want to go to the effort if nothing will grow in this soil :-P

I'm pretty much the same way. It's a bit off topic, that's why I asked but hey it's your topic, so let me see if I can summarize. Here goes.... Oh, if you are interested in the irrigating part of this thread, scroll down, as this is longer than I expected & off topic. Last year, I drove to Biloxi, MS in a car a friend gave me. An 87 Chev Celebrity. With gas prices on the rise my thought was two fold. This got better gas mileage than my F150 plus if any thing happens to it, I could just leave it, rent a car and keep going. If I had the F150, I would feel obligated to pay inflated, out-of-state roadside repairs. Well the car ran fine on the way down. My return trip began on Fri. May 13th at 00:45. I am not superstitious (good thing). After about an hour & half of driving, I began to hear a noise pulled off the highway to check it & the oil. At an idle the knock didn't seem too bad, the oil was good (had it changed before I left). Asked a local for directions, she mentioned go over the "Dolly Parton bridge". So at some point after I crossed the "Dolly Parton bridge" the vehicle emitted a severe knocking noise and lost power. After pulling off to the shoulder in a rural area of I-65 in Alabama (with no street lights), I investigated and found a puddle of oil under the engine. I was happy this did not happen a few miles back in the middle of a long bridge with no breakdown lanes. While I have never had an experience like this before, I knew that the engine was beyond repair. This is when you get that nauseating, sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach. Pitch black out, somewhere after 2 am, and you just have NO idea where the hey you are. No street lights, no signs to read to tell someone. I grabbed my Cingular cell, happy to have a signal. I dialed 911, The local police transferred me to the Alabama Highway Patrol who informed me if I had AAA, I would have to call them myself. The dispatcher hung up without giving me the local number. I could not locate my AAA card to find a number but checked my cell phone to find a number to the office in CT which luckily had menu options for roadside assistance. After finding out I was in AL, I was transferred to another number. While this dispatcher was trying to determine where I was located (I had absolutely no idea) I saw headlights pull up behind me. Thinking, oh good it is the highway patrol, it turned out to be a well meaning civilian (who appeared to be under the influence) offering me a ride to Montgomery, some 3 hours north. Afraid to admit I did not know where I was, I told him the police wanted to know what mile marker I was at. He informed me I was approx. 6 miles north of the Bay Minette exit. After a few more minutes he insisted if I did not get in his car, he would have to get going. I felt it unwise to get into a car with a strange man in an altered mental status. I thanked him and off he went. The AAA dispatcher contacted a local towing company who called me some time later requesting a mile marker, informing me AAA would only pay him to search for 3 miles and if I was not in that area he would have to stop looking. Despite my best efforts to describe where I was, the tow operator could not determine where I was located. Approximately 10 miles north of the bridge is all I knew but that didnt seem to help. A desolate part of I-65 in Alabama, without lights but plenty of trees and absolutely no other signs or markers. Apparently the entire stretch between Bay Minette and Montgomery is pretty desolate. This would have been a good test for OnStar. During further conversation with the tow operator, he informed me there is one highway patrolman who works 200 miles of the interstate. With fog limiting visibility as time went on, we agreed that if I wanted assistance, I would have to start walking to find a mile marker and call him back. I grabbed a flashlight and began walking north on this lonely unmarked stretch of I-65. Thinking someone might stop if they saw a disabled vehicle with emergency flashers followed by someone walking, I decide to walk in the direction of travel. I flashed my light while walking, hoping someone would stop, maybe a truck driver with a CB radio. Making use of the headlights on the southbound vehicles I checked both sides of the highway, I continued as the flashing lights of my car faded from view. After walking for about 2 miles in the pitch dark with trucks and cars whizzing by at 75-80 mph I happened upon another motorist on the southbound side experiencing car problems with an air conditioning belt. After assisting him with my light, I was able to convince him to give me a ride to the next mile marker. He appeared to be hesitant since my flashing lights were not visible from where we were. It turns out that I was north of the 141 mile marker and the 142 mile marker was missing on both sides of the highway. What are the odds? When tow operator arrived, he agreed the car would need another motor. But said "no one will give you any money for this". I asked about the availability of a used car. After telling me he did not have anything, he advised me that if I was to buy something locally, I would again have problems within 100 miles (no warranty). He said "they do it all the time to people in your situation". I again contacted the local AAA. Their first referral was to Enterprise Rent A Car, who insisted I would have to return the car to Alabama, NOT. I again called the local AAA dispatcher who had to research and call back with a 3 way conference to National Car Rental agent, located in Charleston, SC., who insisted the nearest one-way rentals were only available at the Mobile Airport. The tow operator told me it would be at least an hour drive to the Mobile Airport. I had no idea how I could get to the airport at this time of the morning and began inquiring about rooms in the local area. Hearing my discussion with AAA the tow operator informed me that I have AAA-plus and he could take me up to 100 miles. He said this was within range of the airport. After pulling off to the side of the road and discussing it further, we decided the airport would likely be my best option. It was 4AM and the National counter did not open until 6:30 AM. He agreed to wait so I could unload my luggage. The fun did not stop there but continued with airport police threatening TSA would confiscate my luggage or the vehicle if either were left unattended. Meaning, I could not leave my luggage on the sidewalk while going to the rental counter. I remember saying "hmmm then 'I' won't have to worry about it". Well he didn't think that was funny. If you are the tow operator reading this, I want to Thank You, you were a complete gentleman and a huge help in my time of need. I continued on to visit with my daughter in Orangeburg, SC and a long time friend in Princeton, NC. I had the worst experience of my life at the Sun Moon Inn, Orangeburg, SC but that is a whole story in itself. I would NOT recommend the Sun Moon Inn to anyone. After my daughterÂs friend suddenly passed on in October, I returned to Orangeburg. This time in the F150 with trailer in tow. I am happy to say this trip was w/o incident. Now folks, back to gardening. Ed, it is raining here again today & now again tonight. In fact, there are reports of a tornado touching down in Westchester County, NY and in Fairfield County, CT (Greenwich). Gumby_CT

It's hard to plan for drip by looking at the dirt rather than looking at the plants, and with someone as plant layout-lackadaisical as I am, I really find it easy to plumb for the plants, not for the area they're in. All my beds are sitting outside, raked, waiting, empty (except for some favas), and with long half inch nips poking out of the ground with solid caps on them in two irrigation circuits. There's a bunch of half inch PVC line buried, with some cheap plastic valves here and there to shut off or turn on whole beds. In other words, no irrigation decisions have been made at all but the guts are in place. This is an exceedingly dry location with a great lack of rain, but fortunately we have good water pressure. I will eventually have one micro-tube to each major plant, an embedded emitter line to others like lettuce and sunflowers, and maybe spray to yet others. Everything can use quarter inch tubing pushed on to a drip head's barbs, and I'll decide later what goes where. There's no planning other than the overall infrastructure. The drip parts will all be on for the same length of time (everywhere at once) and if a plant needs more water, it just gets a "larger" end emitter or a second one added. I'd strongly suggest waiting to see what's needed and where it's needed, and working from that reality. Then you may feel it's easier to change your plant layout as needed. Just start with a bunch of quarter inch tubing, an assortment of flag emitters, some tees, and a little Corona. You can do nearly everything with that.

So in case anyone ever has similar questions, I have a few quick pictures of my garden now. Nothing fancy but it may help someone decide between buying seedlings, planting from seed, etc. A few quick notes. I planted by seed May 15th. It is June 23rd. I'm no expert but I think the weather here has been ideal so I've watered two, maybe three times total. This is my second season SFG gardening and all I did was add a variety of organic matter back into the box. Some cheaper from a box store, some slightly more expensive stuff from the local garden center. I haven't used any fertilizers or soils with added fert. The yarrow(yellow topped plant) you see below was the only plant not from seed. It is a leftover from last year's garden as it can withstand cold temps. The big leaves you see is a zucchini plant. There is one fruit growing, one open blossom, and maybe 8-10 potential blossoms. I've never grown zucchini so maybe this is the norm but I am quite impressed. Not with myself. With the plant because I have done nothing except thin from 3 seedlings to 1. There are a few carrots to the left that you may barely be able to see. I was not expecting any because they have taken quite some time to come up. Behind that there are some tomato plants. I suspect these to be volunteer seeds from last year but won't know for sure until I see fruit because I did plant another tomato variety in that area this year. There is also purple basil hidden in that mess and you can see butternut squash going up the trellis. Starting from the left, I had radishes here. They've already been harvested and I intend to plant another crop shortly. There is a mess of beets next to that with tomatoes coming in on top of the beets. These tomatoes are definitely volunteers. There are some carrots and onions under there as well. On the other side of the 4x4 beam, there is a plant with a purple hue to certain sections. Does anyone know what it is? I believe it to be a weed of some sort because it has been all through the bed. Both all green and purple hued. Here I have more volunteer tomatoes with an herb(I forget what), nasturtium at the corners, and two watermelon trellised. The open space you see is the only available space. I didn't get a clear picture of the last section but two butternut squash plants with lots of trellised vines, more nasturtium, and this guy. I don't know what it is so can anyone help? It may be a plant from last year but those plants never turned into what they should have been so I am at a loss. There is also some volunteer cilantro growing just outside the box on this side. I let some of it seed last year hoping that might happen. I doubt anyone has cared to read this but I wanted to share because this is all from seed---either intentionally planted or from volunteer seeds from last year's crops. I bought everything as seedlings last year---planted May 31st---and I also fertilized throughout the season. I pruned as well and I haven't done that this year. Everything did well but it was a lot of work so I wanted to see the contrast in just doing nothing. Interestingly, the timing is the same if you would add two weeks for sowing from seed. Comparably, I've done next to nothing this year except thin the zucchini, watermelon, and squash from 3 to 1 and water a few times. So far, I feel this year is showing better results and it has been so much less work(not to mention it is cheaper). Happy gardening!