I love my Homemade Earth Boxes! These boxes are easy to make and you will save tons of money, not to mention having the best bounty of vegetables ever!
We made these boxes in under 30 minutes one we laid out our supplies. Shop around for the Rubbermaid tubs, I found mine at Walmart for about $5.00. The real “Earth Box” is available on line for for purchase and also great planting tips! Just click on the link.
What you need to make 2 DIY Earth Boxes:
2 Rubbermaid Plastic Storage Tubs (I used 18 Gallon)
1 10′ Plastic Pipe 1 1/2 Diameter
Carpet Knife
Miter saw to cut the plastic pipe
3/8 inch Drill Bit to Drill Drain Holes
First place I went to was You Tube. That it my go to place for how to do anything. I Learn how to build, make and create all by researching You Tube. My favorite Video is right Here.
First thing you do is cut the insert out of the Lid of the tub, make sure you watch the video.
Drill a drain hole on each end of the tubs about 2 3/4 inches from the bottom.
With the cutout piece of plastic from the lid, drill several holes for drainage. Cut a circle in one corner of the lid to fit the Fill Pipe, again refer to the video 🙂
Cut the PVC Pipe with the Miter Saw into to 2 1/2 inch pieces. You will need to cut 15 of them.
Place the pipe pieces standing up in the bottom of the tub and place the Lid you drilled holes in on top.
Cut a length of PVC Pipe about 3 inches above the height of the tub. Insert in the corner and you have just built your first DIY Reath Box!!!
I think I need to add this Video as well, I gleaned a lot from this guy too! Although we went the way of using the PVC Pipe for stability.
Here are pictures of our Box in progress
I Transplanted 2 Cucumber plants that I started from seeds and 2 Zucchini in the other. My plan is to put a trellis behind them and train the plants vertical, another Pinterest idea! Gotta love that site!! You can follow me at Jeanene (WinterWheat1).
Congratulations!!! You now have your own Earth Boxes. Here are my other 3 Boxes all planted and growing like crazy! I have Corn with Garlic planted in the front since one is growing up and the other is growing down (made sense to me). We have 2 rows of Snow Pea’s in one box, and 2 rows of Green Beans in the other. I am so pleased at how well my “crops are coming along. I never have to worry about “not enough water as I fill the drain pipe every 3-4 days. I check them every day since they are growing like crazy! Here it is April 10th in Phoenix AZ and I have Snow Peas and Beans already. We also have a Cherry Tomato plant going nuts! More Pictures!
[…] we were able to include many of our fresh vegetables and herbs right out of the garden. We have Earth Boxes full of great stuff, (2) 4×4 raised beds which are going crazy and several pots with herbs […]
I am DEF going to try this out! A few questions tho.
I compared this to the instructions for the Earthbox and i noticed that you didn’t include the open corners for the tightly packed soil to allow absorption throughout the box. Also theres no mention of an overflow hole. Are these needed?
Did you use the same fertilizer trough method?
Dave, these boxes were so easy to build and my “crops” did very well here in the heat of Phoenix AZ, the ultimate test! We did drill the holes in the top of the lid once cut out, about 30 of them. In one corner of the cut out lid we cut a corner out to accommodate the water feed pipe. There where 2 holes drilled (one on each end) just above the lid placement for overflow drainage. We followed the video mostly and our boxes are planted again this year. I used the Contained Mix from Miracle grow with the fertilized in it and throughout the season I fertilized certain plants to there particular needs. I hope this answers your questions, they are awesome and inexpensive to build and you can move them anywhere. Good luck!
[…] we were able to include many of our fresh vegetables and herbs right out of the garden. We have Earth Boxes full of great stuff, (2) 4×4 raised beds which are going crazy and several pots with herbs […]
My name is Jeanene . I have a passion for cooking and creating new recipes as I have an allergy to eggs and sometimes have to be creative. I purchased a Nikon D40 SLR and have renewed my love for photography. I plan to share both of my passions on this blog and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!
I also have a love of sports and Baseball is on top, reading, so yes that is included too.
And you might ask “why WinterWheat?”… It’s my hair color! (it say’s so on the bottle)
We made these boxes in under 30 minutes one we laid out our supplies. Shop around for the Rubbermaid tubs, I found mine at Walmart for about $5.00. The real “Earth Box” is available on line for for purchase and also great planting tips! Just click on the link.
Winterwheat 
[…] we were able to include many of our fresh vegetables and herbs right out of the garden. We have Earth Boxes full of great stuff, (2) 4×4 raised beds which are going crazy and several pots with herbs […]
I am DEF going to try this out! A few questions tho.
I compared this to the instructions for the Earthbox and i noticed that you didn’t include the open corners for the tightly packed soil to allow absorption throughout the box. Also theres no mention of an overflow hole. Are these needed?
Did you use the same fertilizer trough method?
Dave, these boxes were so easy to build and my “crops” did very well here in the heat of Phoenix AZ, the ultimate test! We did drill the holes in the top of the lid once cut out, about 30 of them. In one corner of the cut out lid we cut a corner out to accommodate the water feed pipe. There where 2 holes drilled (one on each end) just above the lid placement for overflow drainage. We followed the video mostly and our boxes are planted again this year. I used the Contained Mix from Miracle grow with the fertilized in it and throughout the season I fertilized certain plants to there particular needs. I hope this answers your questions, they are awesome and inexpensive to build and you can move them anywhere. Good luck!
[…] we were able to include many of our fresh vegetables and herbs right out of the garden. We have Earth Boxes full of great stuff, (2) 4×4 raised beds which are going crazy and several pots with herbs […]
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