mrdoitall - I haven't planted yet, but I was hoping to get started this week. My seedling are doing pretty well though. I still have about 850 I haven't killed yet. I'll need to take some cuttings if I'm going to end up with 1000. I was planning to make hills of dirt, compost, pulled weeds, grass clippings, straw, etc. But I won't know for sure how things will go until I actually try it. I thought I had a good supply of dirt right next to my new space, but it turned out to be hard as a rock. So I'm considering my other options. I don't have a working camera setup, so pictures will have to wait. I have more urgent things like fencing, planting, slug barriers and trellising, to deal with first. And I kinda got distracted watching the oil spill. What a mess. loribee - I'm going to do something similar, except I'm planning to make a hill for each plant, instead of covering the entire garden. And I won't be using any framing, since I don't think it's necessary in my case. I may cut down the number of plants, once I see how things are going. I figure I'll get to a certain point, and just call it done. kay-jay - I agree too. 1000 is a number I came up with as the absolute maximum for this year. I'm using it as a goal, and so I have to figure out how to do things on a larger scale. I may only get halfway this year. But next year I'll have worked out enough of the problems, and it should get easier.

sprtsguy, My "guideline" is that if you have tillable in-ground space ALWAYS plant that way. If on the other hand, you have sunlit space like on a deck or patio, an AWS container system is the next best thing. I too experienced too much moisture concentration in my first Rev "A" EarthTainer design. I have now shrunk the wicking basket opening orifice from its original 76" to now 16 sq. inches. In addition, I am now preventing the roots from penetrating down into the water reservoir using landscape fabric as I felt they were taking in too much moisture. While I got much larger fruit, they did seem to have excess moisture content when I sliced open the tomatoes. Growing in an AWS container is much more "delicate" than I had originally thought, but the opportunity to triple the number of tomato plants that I could raise has motivated me to find the right balance in the design to approach the flavor and yield of in-ground gardening. Note: None of this applies to growing corn in AWS systems, as that has been totally disease-free and gigantic production for me this season. See the URL link below for the Rev 1.4 EarthTainer plans. Raybo Here is a link that might be useful: EarthTainer Instructions

Another poster write: "How do I know if my Tomatoes are getting 2 much or not enuf water .. do I need to get a moisture meter ? " An intern(Not yet a board certified) , by the name of BETTY, replies: " Your finger is the best soil moisture test instrument. Just stick it in couple inches into the soil (Hopefully you don't have sharp object ,( like pieces of your broken wine glass !!) in it . Is it moist or not ? That is as simple as it gets. (Thanx Doc) ==================================== The above sounded like an excerpt from the book called : GARDENNING FOR DUMMIES (JMO, seysonn) This post was edited by seysonn on Thu, Jul 11, 13 at 4:19

Just an Old Jock at Heart thus the necessity of Hip Replacments.As for the Horticulture 101 , I use rule of thumb that at temps below 55 Deg F evaporations rate is not any issue unless severe winds are a norm . Since you have indicated low temps and native folliage I would just ensure to maintain good colour of vegetation . You may requiure either a short Deluge application of water or a longer moderate rate of watering dependant on your soil composition loam vs sand vs clay. The ideal is a 30/30/30 mixture with a 10% organic mixture making up the final composition. The waterng should achieve minimium penetration of at least 1/2 inch . On our hunting plot we at times supplement natural rainfall with additional watering via a 4wheeler with irrigation 20 gallon tank . The plot is just over an acre , thus not a great hardship for a food plot for deer.