Found a lime-green ground cover last year at Plant Shed called Moneywort. It gets mid-morning sun and did quite well, spilling over rock border. It appears to have overwintered and sprouted in amongst the grass. Looked handsome in the spring and really took off when it got some fertilizer. Don't know how it would do in full afternoon sun

In 2006, when I first grew Lime Green Salad, I thought OMG! how is this little plant gonna hold up all the tomatoes when these blossoms all set??? But fact is, you only get about 10% blossom set as I've found out after growing about four plants in 2006 and 6 in 2007. The best plants only gave me about 1 tomato for every 10 blossoms even though all plants expressed those huge multi-floral flower sprays. As far as the amber blush ... yeah, I get the same general colors as Lee shows in his pictures. The insides stay that beautiful dark lime green tone though. Some of the tomatoes seem more oblate and some plants seem to give larger sizes than other plants. See that one up above the golf ball? I've tried to select for plants that give more of that size fruit with more seed cells (four or more locules is what I look for). But then I've only been selecting for two summers so far. This will be my third try and right now I only have three plants selected for best seedling vigor from seeds saved from largest fruit producers. BTW, I find the ones let go 'til amber are softer and much sweeter; while I prefer them firmer and zingier and pick them before the amber blush for my tastes. When they go amber, I either give them away or save them for seeds. Bill

It's been about 10 days since my original post and I think the worst is over. Some of the plants seem to have stabilized and the remaining stalks on those plants are moist again and standing upright. About 1/3 of the plants have been stripped almost bare, to where they look similar to a Charlie Brown Xmas tree -- just a few long limbs with a little remaining fruit on them. But the other 2/3 of the plants seem still have quite a bit of foliage and look they may have survived the dreaded lime monster. The next challenge will be to see if new growth and emerges and new flowers start to appear. The planting mix that I use is from a local Bay Area nursery chain (Navlet's). The bag says it has forest humus, peat moss, chicken manure, earthworm castings, bat guano, kelp meal, alfalfa meal, oyster shell and dolomite limes...though not sure in what percentages. The description of their planting mix on their web site says: "This formulation of peat moss, worm castings, oyster shell and dolomite limes, along with other critical sources of nutrients and soil conditioners, is based on more than a century of working with Bay Area soils." Next year, I may avoid Earthbox's recommended application of 1/4 cup hydrated lime in a gallon of water when BER first appears. Or, I may try it in just one Earthbox, fill the reservoir completely and wait 3-4 days to see if any similar ill effects arise. If so, I'll ditch the hydrated lime altogether for the other Earthboxes and will look for a less caustic calcium substitute.

"continually added fresh water through the fill tube in an attempt to dilute the hydrated lime solution (the soil is covered by a plastic cover, which is part of the Earthbox system)." OK, I get it. Since I'm a DIYer who reads but still won't follow directions (and have no patience for being on tour buses and the like LOL), removing the cover is something I wouldn't think twice about to get rid of the excess. But a single top flood if we could turn back the clock would have addressed the problem much more effectively. More importantly, I think it may also hold a clue for you to re-enforce your original thoughts on what happened when you didn't quickly refill with the balance of water. You'd wick up the let's say 2x concentrated solution, which you already worried about ... but if the top had somewhat dried, you'd also wick up more total volume ... we are not dealing with a gas tank, but rather a sponge. Now you are slowly removing it since there will be a concentration gradient through the small wicks and what is above stays (and this might be the situation that tigrikt was thinking and helping you with too). "I usually use a bagged planting mix from the local nursery (their own "custom mix"), which contains a variety of ingredients (peat, redwood, bat guano, etc.)." tigrikt could comment better than I on this one if they are an actual EB user in your sort of climate. I'm inclined to think you have bad advice from the nursery on the soil, if there is nothing in there to cut back on the sponginess of the peat - like perlite. Redwood? perhaps you mean redwood bark? Big difference there. I'm not up on shredded redwood wood, but I do recall Dr. Gericke had some issues with it, as being somewhat acidic at least, though as a composted ingredient it would probably be good. Either way these things seem to add up to high acid (hurts calcium uptake) and high water retention - outside the sweet spot. I am assuming a lot of things online so it is more of the concern I'd check on, and recommend you learn more about the properties of soils. I understand you've grown this way for years, with reasonable results, so I'm just suggesting you go to the next level now and experiment a little with your soil mix's water retention with something as simple as some added perlite in a few Boxes if you want to take it slowly. Sey has been experimenting with a mix in containers promoted by tapla, and probably could add a few thoughts on the soil if he's still following the thread. Cheers PC edit: maybe the cover is not removable, and I assume it is. If that's the case, I'm sure a DIYer could experiment with removable covers, which I guess is going against the EB concept of set it and forget it, so it will depend on the complexity you feel is appropriate for your situation. One difference between my containers and yours is that I use a lighter mix uncovered and depend on the rain to naturally flush with pure rainwater (free distilled water). It helps keep accumulation or any errors with fertilizer supplements in check, but I enjoy supplementing with fertilizers so that is part of my growing strategy.