I firmly believe that eating organic when feasible as opposed to crops raised with chemicals and pesticides are not only healthier and more nutritious but also taste better. These points can be debated but this is my belief so organic growing is important to me.

Last yr I bot a soilless mix that had already been used 1 season and included around 45% vermiculite that many on this web site including myself have claimed impede drainage in container growing system. I had no clue at the time of purchase that 20% never mind 40% was too much for decent drainage in large containers. The other ing are around 40% peat moss and the remaining are bark, bark ash, dolomite and wetting agent. My crops didnÂt do very well except for tomatoes which were just ok at best.

This yr I added to each 18 gal container and pro rated to smaller ones: 6 qts of perlite, 3 qts of composted cow/horse dung and 1 cup of lime. The perlite greatly improved drainage and the compost helped with cation exchange capacity. I fertilize with espoma plant tone, bat guano and worm compost tea that I brew myself. I have recently added compost to the top of some containers as an experiment and I find that the plants react favorably.

Last month my growing area was inundated with rain every day for 2 weeks or so and 2 hailstorms did some damage particularly to my peppers. Plenty of water for everybody and still the containers drained enough to keep growing.

Some claim that it is not worthwhile to grow organically in containers because of either poor harvest or inferior crops as compared to fast drainage and chemicals ferts. Maybe crops grow a little better with the addition of blue powder I donÂt know, but here are some pictures of stuff grown organically that look good enough to me. polfast picture taken a few weeks ago, others taken today.

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Polfast tom. First tomato 3rd week in June.

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Strawberry. Picked a few qts.

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Marmande. Pretty or what?

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Distance shot to show the fullness of the toms.

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Brandywine. first one and guess what I am eating tonight.

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Marmande close up

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Carrots. I was afraid of a litlle too much top growth but I picked one and it was a nice slender 8" danvers.

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hot peppers. The bin has plastic gardening fabric on bottom to keep grubs out. It is not an extension of the earth as in regular raised be garden.