I have two Earth Boxes with tomatoes in each. I used Pro-Mix (purchased from Home Deopt) in one and Jungle Growth (From Lowes) in the other. All four tomatoe plants (2 in each Earthbox) are doing well; however, I did not add any lime to either. Since the Pro-Mix contains lime, those tomatoes are showing no signs of blossom end rot. I have one cherry tomato and one Patio Hybrid in the other box, with the Jungle Growth with no added lime. The cherry tomato is just starting to put out tomatoes, but the patio hybrid is covered with big, green tomatoes. So far I've had to throw out about 10 or 12 of the patio tomatoes due to blossom end rot. I still have about 20 tomatoes on the bush, so I'm hoping to get a few good ones before it's all over. From now on, it's Pro-Mix for my Earth Box tomatoes, or added lime to the mix. BTW, I love the Earth Box for growing tomatoes. I found some plans for building home made boxes using five-gallon buckets and an planning to grow more tomatoes in the future in these self-watering boxes.

Avoid the bark and the pre-packaged soil mixes. The soil mixes are best for containers and even then you need to alter it with some other material. I suggest trying to find a landscape materials yard that sells bulk quantities of decomposed granite (and other stuff). Here in AZ they are all over the place. Ive had great success mixing in some 1/4" minus granite with my native soil for raised succulent beds. 1/4 minus has enough gritty and finer particles to provide good drainage. You can have a few tons of this delivered to you much cheaper than anything you can get at HD or Lowes. You can also get a nice top-dressing material fron them. If you cant find one in the phone book, maybe call up some landscaping contractors and ask them where they get their non-plant materials. Good luck!

I don't know if what I did was correct, but here goes. I started by tilling the heavy clay soil in my 10X10 framed in garden. I added about 3 standard trashbags of oak leaves, 1 cup blood meal, 1 cup bone meal, 1 cup epson salt, then topped with 2 96 gallon trashcans of green manure (blend of cow, pig, goat) obtained from a local stockyard for free. This was spread out over the leaves in November. Mid January the garden was retilled as deep as possible while adding a bail of peat moss. After tilling one of the local groc store had a sale on shrimp, so I bought 12 lbs. after peeling and deheading I buried the heads/shells as deep as possible (to keep the dogs out) in 4 different places (dug until the heavy clay was too hard to get a shovel into). In Febuary, I obtained 1 96 gallon trashcan of well cured compost from my grandfather, so I added it. March 1st I made my rows, and ended up with 4 2' rows which are about 18" above the ground level. While making my rows, it appears my garden is loaded with earthworms, so I am taking that as a good sign. About a week ago, I planted 1 cherokee purple tomato and a few cucumbers, so far they seem to be thriving. Plan on adding the peppers and the rest of the veggies once night time temp gets to about 65. Now daytime temps are 80 and night time temps are in the 50's. In about a week it should be time to start planting the rest of my garden.

I meant to say soil with lots of organic matter, not organic soil. I make a big and wide hole, maybe one yard in lenght and width and 1/2 a yard deep. I fill out this hole with the best soil I can buy at any garden center...I mix in some cow manure, chicken manure and any other rich matter I find...make sure you mulch heavily after planting the vines. Fernando, in Brasil, commercial passion vines are replanted every couple years. Here in Florida, I do the same, I replant my vines every two years, maximum every three years. Nematodes is a big problem in sandy soil. I hope this info will help you. Where are you located?