Well the general rule in container gardening is that the containers must have some form of drainage. Otherwise the water collects in the bottom, you get ponding of the water, bacterial growth, and root rot. I can't really picture containers made from "wire forms and concrete". That would be quite unusual IME but I would be worried about that weight on the field interfering with drainage in the field. Given all the drainage problems and shallow drain fields one reads about in many parts of Florida, especially with sandy soil, I'd be very reluctant to alter my septic drain field at all. And there are literally thousands of lightweight containers with drainage holes available for gardeners to use that can be easily moved and adjusted for sun exposure without creating problems for the filed. Unlike in-ground gardening Container Gardening has its own set of unique needs so I'd suggest some in-depth reading over on the Container Gardening forum here. Dave

in another post.. you indicated severe soil cracking ... and that tells me.. you have a good deal of clay ... if you dig a hole in clay ... and add stuff to make it anti-clay .. as the clay dries ... it will actually wick water from your prime media ... and in the long run.. you end up losing ... in the alternative.. the clay will create a cauldron that holds water ... and then all the water retaining media holds too much water ... so it gets real tricky.. amending ONLY a planting hole ... and the easiest solution is to do a whole bed.. and the other solution is to raise that bed above grade somewhat ... work above the problem ... its all about the dichotomy between drainage.. and water holding capacity ... actually .. its all theory.. and what you do .. is plant one .. and find out if you can make it live.. if it fails.. move on.. there are too many other plants that you can plant.. and never forget.. it is said.. you are not a real gardener.. or greenthumb .. UNTIL you have killed every plant in your yard 3 times ... its the experimenting that teaches you .... though i used to give up after two tries. i mean really.. whats the point after two.. lol .. i can bang my head on the garage for free.. lol .. ken

Before you plant, I'd amend the soil so that whatever you put in has the best possible chance. We actually have rough field grass over ours (which is situated in our back field.) It's easy to cut the sod and just flip in up en mass when the tank needs pumping, and it seems to survive as well as the rest of the field, but I can't remember exactly how many inches of soil we have over our tank. Whatever plant you put there, it needs to be something that can either function like sod and be removed and put back in just one or a few pieces, or something that you don't mind having to replace every time the tank gets pumped. I would think that something like a juniper which is woody and prickly to handle would not be a good choice. Do you have a photo of where it is in your yard? You might get more suggestions with that to get ideas flowing. For instance, is it somewhere you could develop a perennial bed and put a half-buried fake rock that you could plant around with tall perennials or fountain-shaped shrubs like forsythia nearby to spill over and largely hide it, and then remove the "rock" when pumping time arrived (preferably scheduled for a time of year when the perennials would have died back and a shrub could be tied back without damage)? Is it somewhere that hardscaping would be appropriate, whether it would be a piece of moveable yard ar*t, a birdbath or fountain, or a path, a patio, etc where you could put a large tile to be lifted when needed? Another plant that could be placed directly over it in a flower bed (like the thyme suggestion) would be one of the low-growing sedums, but neither thyme or se*dum would be able to compete well with grass in a lawn setting.

remudal I have a service contract with a company that checks my aerobic system every three months. It entails opening the tops and measuring the settlable solids, checking the air pump filters and the disinfection device, as well as inspecting some other parts of the system. I suppose it is practical to leave the tops above ground to facilitate this procedure. I just have to live with this. Thankfully they are behind the house. They are really in the way when dragging the watering hose acrosss the lawn.