Use your favorite potting mix, compost, plants, seedlings, etc., and put it all together! This part is really up to you, but I would encourage you to soak the wicking basket first, and only use a small amount of fertilizer. The bucket recycles it, so you probably won't need to add fertilizer again for a very long time.



If you cut smaller holes in the lid, gently thread the plants through the holes before lowering the lid completely.



If you cut one big hole, line the top of the bucket with black plastic. This helps keep the potting mix moist. (see Mr. Beefhead's comment about why it's important to use potting mix)



To water the dearthbox, just pour water down the pipe. You know it's full when water comes out the drainage holes on the sides. We started with moist earth to make the wicking basket's job easier.



Thanks for checking out our instructable! If something doesn't make sense, please tell me and I'll fix it!



ps: we just got our copy of Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen's The Urban Homestead (http://homegrownrevolution.com) in the mail, and it's great! Their SWC recipe is really really similar to ours, but with a few cool extras and best of all, lots of advice about which plants do well in SWCs and which plants do not. You should definitely check out their book if you're using or thinking about using any sort of earthbox.

