I just visited someone with an earth box garden, and the garden plants appear to already be 2-3 times taller than the plants of the same species in my vegetable garden which was started at around the same time. Has anyone ever tried these things?

I think they might be able to work on bamboos too if the goal is to try and establish a new division quickly. It looks like having them raised up prevents them from being cooled by the soil temperature, and the black plastic heats up the pot under full sun. There also appears to be a watering tube which connects to the bottom of the pot so plants are watered from the bottom. It doesn't look like these boxes can really get flooded by heavy rains, or dry out that easy. The nutrients in the pot probably stay in place with this set up.

Here are some pictures to show what I saw. I think these kits can be replicated pretty easily with materials found at the local hardware store. Here's a link to a tutorial on making one from raw materials. http://www.josho.com/gardening.htm

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/31489820@N02/

http://stevespeonygarden.blogspot.com/

Please correct me if im wrong, but arent they just growing in large containers with black plastic mulch? Whats special about that?

Intuitively and as you said, this method of planting would keep the soil warm and that may be helpful in early plantings.

Also, it would slow down the rate of evaporation from the soil, thus saving watering needs.

I have a fish tank that I use to grow some herbs (ngo om). I covered it with shrink wrap with just some holes for the plants to breathe. This makes it a closed environment like a mini green house. The plant loves it and I don't need to water it for months. It also keeps the air moist which would otherwise dry out the leaves of these semi aquatic herbs.

I noticed there were pipes going into the soil, are those for watering? What do the pipes connect to?

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Southern Indiana. Theoretically the same climate as 'needmore' & 'Eastlandia'.
My Bamboo List.

"Take Dog apart. Disinfect. Reassemble."

I think the pipe is where you add water to the reservoir.

I think the success of plants in Earth boxes is due to fertilizer and a constant supply of water.

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Alan.
My blog: It's not work, it's gardening!

I'm not sure I would want to grow my plants like this. I think the idea is good and the growth would be great but after reading more especially the comments about no longer using pvc because of chemical leaching it got me thinking the whole thing is made out of plastic. Maybe I will try one made out of all natural non P.T. wood and bamboo for the water tube. not sure what to cover it with though. maybe cardboard. It is hard to avoid plastics.