These are some sort of containers, right? Best I could find online.is linked below. Honestly never heard of anyone using them as I think they are relatively new. But they appear to be somewhat like the Earthboxes which have been around for decades. So yes, as with Earthboxes the plastic cover is supposed to remain in place throughout the season to prevent rapid evaporation of the soil moisture. Of course that all depends on where you live (which you didn't indicate), how hot it gets there, how often you find you need to water and feed, the color of the plastic cover, etc. But it appears that once planted you can't remove the cover anyway without damaging the plants. As for limp lettuce on hot days? How hot are we talking about? 70-75 degrees - not really. Not if you are maintaining the water level in the planter and it is working correctly. 95 degrees? Yes since lettuce is a cool season crop. Please include your location or at least your gardening zone in your posts. It makes a BIG difference for the answers. :) Dave Here is a link that might be useful: City Picker planter

"People believe a lot of strange things, " I do so agree! Really I have never heard of people doing that.. cept for maybe at a party! But someone would be missing some teeth if I was half way through a vegy an then told it was grown on human waste! Somehow dysentary doesn't seem that appealing. Think I would rather have diner with the 'Doners!" " You think that was funny. Well I don't want to hog the thread so I'm going to start another. Come on over, you can get a tickle there too." About time! This forum has been getting a little mean spirited! LOL Jus' joking Seramus! What I think is funny.. is how some must view porta potties at public events as a gold mine!

Yeah ... any time I hear the phrase "deviations can have undesired consequences" or any variation on that theme, alarm bells immediately go off. You do realize that he is not, and has not been for many years, a commercial grower any more? He puts all his time and effort into the Earthboxes and the "Earthbox Research Center" - where they have Earthboxes lined up on asphalt in what looks like a parking lot. I would like to point out that once allowances are made for the reservoir in the bottom and normal clearance at the top, this thing is only 8" deep. And its a VERY expensive solution for a commercial grower - hydroponics would be a ton cheaper and easier than dealing with hundreds and hundreds of containers. $33 apiece for a container that allegedly will grow 2 tomato plants at a time is an awful high initial expense. This is NOT a feasible solution to the problems of a large grower. It does, however, work for a minority of folks who have extremely limited growing space and options for container growing. Whether or not the fertilizer strip is at all useful is arguable - but not very. Tons of people use SWCs just like the Earthbox, with no covers or fertilizer strips. The Rubbermaid container based versions can work better than Earthboxes because they're deeper (within limits) - they just don't hold up to the sun. And that's the root of the situation - soil volume. Because of the limitations of a self-watering system, there is a limit to how deep any SWC can be. Personally I have found that limit to be unacceptable - which is why I have stopped using SWC and have gone to drip irrigation and mulched containers. When I'm top watering I can have a container that is sufficiently deep to let the plants I grow root well, without becoming root bound. In an apartment situation, where there is no garden hose to hook up, its a whole different ballgame. If you can't water regularly - and I am sometimes not to be trusted to handwater in a timely manner - a self-watering system becomes much more attractive. Earthboxes work well - WITHIN THEIR LIMITS. And those limits are imposed by physics. Some of us just choose not to be limited and seek more optimal growing conditions for our plants - because we have the space, the desire, and the know-how. You know, it's clear you're a convert. That makes it very hard to respond to you without sounding overly harsh. But here are a few things you might just think about, if you could. Earthboxes are expensive. Earthboxes are low-capacity They were "invented" for a particular purpose in a particular environment - growing a couple of tomatoes in a hot, humid area with heavy rainfall during one part of the season, Very few people actually live where those conditions exist Peppers are not tomatoes. Eggplants are not tomatoes. Carrots are not tomatoes (and need way more than 8" depths for many varieties). Even tomatoes are ... well, they're tomatoes, but they don't all have the same growth requirements. None of that is meant to detract for their usefulness in some circumstances for people who are limited in their growing options by space, Nazi homeowner's associations, demands on their time, etc. Earthboxes have advantages, and they have limitations. When one outweighs the other, then a person makes their choice accordingly. But a system that insists you must slavishly follow a cookie-cutter pattern regardless of the plant you want to grow or local conditions is already flawed from the outset. That doesn't mean that your tomatoes or other plants are going to die in an Earthbox, because Nature is way more flexible than that. And any method of growing things needs to be flexible as well, because everybody does better when we adjust to reality. You can only push things so far. A Wall-o-Water may extend your growing season in Chicago, IL - but it isn't going to do much for you in the Antarctic. You like your Earthboxes. We get that. I once had a couple myself. They were fine. But over time I realized almost any other container worked better for me, in my varied conditions, than the Earthboxes. Earthboxes and their ilk - including the home-made, unapproved, heretical versions - have their place, in some situations and for some people. Just not in all situations or for all people and plants.

To answer the replies to my original post so far: I am thinking self-watering containers to reduce potential problems with insects and other pests (which I can't see) -- a potential problem with in-ground planting, because these containers seem easier to maintain (ie. fertilizer strips), and to lessen the likelihood of me over or under watering. Thank you for telling me about the Florida forum. I will definitely check it out. I also love the cork/wire suggestion for monitoring the water level as well as the suggestion to use bamboo poles to rig up sun shades. My husband, who is also blind, is quite handy with his hands, so he will be able to fashion all these things for me. There is a little bit of an overhang, but it won't offer much shade. Regarding the proper potting mix, I am confused. the earthbox website seems to suggest all you need is their potting mix, dolimite, and fertilizer strip and you are ready to go. Yet on this forum, I keep reading about all kinds of "recipes" for creating the best growing environment and drainage. Mixing up my own stuff is pretty much out of the question, so is there anything that is ready-made that you recommend for the earthbox? And finally, what about mosquitoes? Are they able to breed in the water reservoirs of the earthbox for instance? Linda