Garden2Blog GrowBox™ Fun With P. Allen Smith

When I was in Little Rock, Arkansas, last month, attending the second annual Garden2Blog event, hosted by P. Allen Smith, the other bloggers and I were introduced to a number of gardening products. Some, we were familiar with, and others were new to some of us.

Allen and Ken McDowell explain how The GrowBox™ works to
Garden2Blog attendees.

One of the products which I was familiar with - The GrowBox™ - was demonstrated to us. My past experience with doing container gardening with products such as this was limited to The EarthBox®. The company that produces The GrowBox™ is owned by two individuals who helped develop The EarthBox®, so they have some similar features, but differ in others.

One of the biggest differences is in how the water level is maintained. With The GrowBox™, water is added through an opening in the side of the box instead of through a portal in the top. Secondly, the waterproof cover of The GrowBox™ is open around the edges, to allow rain water to run into the container.  The GrowBox™ costs slightly less.

 In this short video, Allen and I highlight some of the features of The GrowBox™:

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

I have two GrowBoxes (both sent to me free of charge - one last fall and one following Garden2Blog) and I've planted one of them with two indeterminate tomato plants by Bonnie Plants, also one of the companies present at Garden2Blog. I purchased the Bonnie tomato plants - one 'Better Boy' and one 'Bonnie's Favorite' - and planted them a few weeks ago. They're in bloom at the moment, but no tomatoes yet.

The second GrowBox™ will be planted tomorrow with cucumber seedlings that I started in the ground a few weeks ago and zucchini. Yes, zucchini and cucumbers can be grown together because they don't cross-pollinate. The GrowBox™ will hold three plants of each, according to their growing recommendations.

It will be interesting to see which cucumbers do better. Historically, I've not had great success growing cucumbers in the ground for some reason. I expect that the cukes will do better in The GrowBox™.  I like that the zucchini won't take up much space doing those this way, too. With our garden growing ever more shady each year, the sunny spots are premium garden space for growing veggies and I can use that space for other things like green beans, edamame, and kale.

Watch for progress reports on how my GrowBox™ veggies are doing throughout the summer!

Photo by Mimi San Pedro

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I was invited to attend the Garden2Blog Event by P. Allen Smith and Associates/Hortus, Ltd., free of charge. My airfare, lodging and meals were provided (with some exceptions) by them, and I was the recipient of some free sponsor products. Any opinions expressed on this blog in this post and any subsequent posts about my experiences at Garden2Blog or products associated with them are my own, as always.