When I first got my starter Earth Boxes, I got them from Whole Foods for $59 each. When I recently bought seeds from Gurny's, there was an offer from Earthbox directly that sold the boxes for $37 for one (including shipping). Discount is 3 for $110, 5 for $175, and 10 for $344. obviously the more you buy, the bigger the discount. Call 1-888-588-5897 I wish I can be an industrious as others who make their own but I am already being a renegade in New York City by gardening on my balcony. (i hear that I am one of the few who veggie garden in my building. I need to maximize my yield with little space so the Earthbox option is the best one for me. So far, I am learning to be a better gardener and have higher yields every year. My first year was dismal b/c I didn't know what I was doing. Now I use seeds, start my plants in a greenhouse rack, and use self watering containers. Hopefully I will have more happy news to report at the end of summer.

So sorry to have posted a question and then be distracted... :) When Christie mentioned the flying little critters, it did strike me that there are not so many here. But then the squash plants did start to produce some little squash! Only problem is they would get so big and then that was it...they'd drop off. George: Thanks for the comments. I'm living in Guam now. I really think you and Christie must have hit it on the head with the lack of pollination. I think I'm going to have to go to the Farmer's market and try to get a new idea for something else to grow and harvest...but we do really, really miss fried yellow squash! Fried green squash is just not the same thing ... Darn!! Thanks all!

Since my last post I went to www.earthbox.com and looked at some of there videos. They had a video of a commercial tomatoe operation that grows in looks like hundreds of earthboxes. They use coir coconut husks as a medium. They use a Florida Weave support system with two plants per box it looks like but they have tremendous looking tomatoes that are uniform in size and with few blems. They pick before they get fully red. Looks like the way to go from a cost basis and sustainability. They are also organic completely. I increased my order to 6 boxes instead of 3 and if goes well will probably start buying a bunch more. I want to get completely away from produce from the food stores with the unrest in world I think we need to be more food self-sufficient.

Vance, I split the EarthTainers into 2 feed systems (13 each) with their own pressure regulator and filter. The EarthBox folks claim you can run up to 30 on a single system, so no problem with just 13 per zone. I actually have a dedicated line off my timed irrigation system to provide the water to the EarthTainer distribution system. As the "physics" of the AWS pneumatic diaphragm has the valve "open" in its quiescent state, and along Bernoulli's Principle with the water rising around the submerged bell flexing the diaphragm closed, I wanted a "belt and suspenders" fail-safe design that if one of the valves stuck open, or a feed line broke, the water wouldn't gush for 24 hours a day when I am traveling. So I have set the timer to "allow" water access to the AWS for 1 hour per day, which should be more than enough access to top off the 'Tainer reservoir each day. If a valve gets stuck, or a line breaks, I have limited the wasted water to 1/24'th of what an "always-on" connection would have been. Regarding "adding a water feature", I currently get a relaxing bubbling sound sitting in my Hot Tub watching the tomatoes grow....... Raybo