EarthBox Preparation

• 1). Place the included plastic screen in the bottom of your EarthBox securely. Locate the round cutout in the front corner of the screen and then press the supplied fill tube through the cutout.
  
  
• 2). Push the included casters into the bottom of your Earth Box if you want to move it around. An EarthBox weighs about 80 pounds when filled.
  
  
• 3). Put your EarthBox in an area where it can receive six to eight hours of sunlight each day.
  
  
• 4). Locate two corner cutouts in the back of your EarthBox and pack the cutouts with moist potting mix. Do not use potting soil.
  
  
• 5). Pour water through the fill tube until you see water coming out of the overflow hole located on the middle bottom of your EarthBox. Keep the water reservoir filled with water.
  
  
• 6). Add moist potting mix onto the screen until it reaches half way up the EarthBox, sprinkle water onto the potting mix, and then carefully pat the potting mix down including the area of the two corner cutouts where you first started.
  
  
• 7). Fill your EarthBox to the top with the potting mix, sprinkle with water until moist, and smooth the potting mix to the top edges of the box.
  
  
• 8). Mix 2 cups of supplied dolomite in with the top 3 to 4 inches of potting mix and smooth the mix once again. Your vegetables need the calcium and magnesium in dolomite to raise the pH or alkalinity of the potting mix.
  
  

Seedling Placement and Planting

• 1). Select the vegetable seedlings you plan to use in your EarthBox. Each vegetable has a certain number of seedlings you can plant in a single or double row in your Earthbox. The placement of seedlings determines where you can place the fertilizer strip. For example, tomatoes, zucchini and artichokes require two seedlings each per single row. Place the fertilizer strip opposite the single row seedlings. Strawberries, herbs and cabbage need three seedlings each per double row. Place the fertilizer strip in the middle of the double row, separating each row.
  
  
• 2). Make a mound with the potting mix with your hands where you will put the fertilizer strip, and then make a long, narrow depression in the mound. Pour 2 cups of dry fertilizer in the depression you made. As an alternative you can pour 3 cups of organic fertilizer into the depression. Add moist potting mix on top of the fertilizer strip, covering the depression and pat down the potting mix carefully. Avoid mixing the fertilizer into the potting mix.
  
  
• 3). Place one of the round cutout holes of one of the included plastic covers over the fill tube and stretch the cover over the top of your EarthBox, black side up. Only cover with the white side up if you live in a dry desert climate or if you use your EarthBox in Florida during the summer. This plastic mulch cover keeps the potting mix moisturized and prevents weeds from growing.
  
  
• 4). Use a knife or scissors to cut a 3-inch "X" in the plastic cover for the location of each vegetable seedling, ensuring you make the cuts as far away as you can from the fertilizer strip. Never cut over the fertilizer strip -- exposure makes the fertilizer less effective.
  
  
• 5). Dig a hole 2 to 3 inches deep through each "X" you cut in the cover into the potting mix using a small spade, then plant one vegetable seedling into each hole. Press the mix around the seedling roots.
  
  
• 6). Water each planted seedling this one time only by pulling back the flaps of the "X." This watering removes air spaces around the seedling roots. Return the flaps around the seedling stems gently, and then pour water through the fill tube to fill the reservoir.
  
  
• 7). Keep the cover on your EarthBox at all times throughout the growing season and ensure the reservoir stays full by adding water to the fill tube until it comes out of the overflow hole. Your vegetables will grow having enough fertilizer for one growing season.