I made an extra large SIP planter recently based on the article in family handyman. link to my thread I used raybo's 3:2:1 mix and For last two weeks I have not watered the plants and they seem to be getting their water just fine. The float says that half of the water is used. So that mix has worked great to wick water. Here is a link to the earthtainer construction (which has information about 3:2:1 mix in the appendix I think)

Hi, how do you make the reservoir bigger. I got most of my white buckets (the ones I use for the bottom bucket from Burger King). I buy the orange buckets that I use for the top bucket from Home Depot. Sometimes the white buckets are made a little different and the orange bucket goes further down into the bottom bucket, so there is not as much room for the water reservoir--I have to add water to them more often. Also, how much lime do you put in each bucket? Is lawn lime the same? What does it do for the plants? I see you are from Florida. I live in the Panhandle and we had a horrible storm last night with 50 MPH winds and hard rain. It knocked over several of my buckets and broke some of the tomatoe vines on one plant. I stuck a few pieces in water, and I put a few just back in the bucket--hope they root for me because it was my favorite tomatoe--the grape one, which has been making lots of tomatoes. Have to go out and clean up my yard now--it is a mess with branches, pine cones, etc. The rain was welcomed though. Thanks, Jeane

Thanks for all the responses so far! I went by reseda pottery today. You're right, tons of pots and fountains, all working. My wife and I had never seen anything like it that's for sure! Our 8 month old didn't know what to think. Prices for pots weren't that "discount" though so we didn't get what we were looking for. Gardena is too far for just a couple smaller pots, but if I'm ever down that way... I'll check Home goods. Anywhere else?

Do a search over in the container gardening forum, there are a lot of folks over there that do self water container gardens and have perfected the mixes to use in them... The compost in Mel's mix would probably cause more harm than good...in containers you want to take amore inorganic approach, utilizing fertilizer for nutrients... Containers don't support the microbial life well and are more likely to be a better environment for the bad types of microbes rather than the good ones. Check out raybo's stuff, he has a ton of great info. Tapla is also a genius when it comes to container gardening and fertilization etc... Good luck and happy growing:)