FRANK DIPAOLO: “One of its responsibilities is to wick the water up to the plants. When you put a small seedling in, the roots are not deep enough to go into that water reservoir, so we need to bring the water up to the plant.”

JIM TEDDER: The box holds about eleven liters of water. There is a small hole in the side to drain out extra moisture and keep from drowning the plants. Since the potting mix soaks up the water, you have to pour more water down the tube every day or so. This kind of container gardening uses much less water than is needed when growing plants in the ground. And it is made so you can never give too much or too little water to the plants.

The plants in the box also need two other things…a small amount of fertilizer and dolomite, a powder-like substance made from limestone. The fertilizer feeds the plants and helps them grow. The dolomite helps to reduce acid in the potting mix. Many farmers say dolomite is the secret to growing good tasting tomatoes.

Dolomite is also a low-cost way to supply calcium to young tomato plants. This helps to protect the plants from a disease known as “blossom end rot.”

FRANK DIPAOLO: “That’s where your tomato plant will start setting fruit …and they look beautiful and you come back a couple of days later and they’ve grown to a pretty nice size…and the bottom of the tomato is all black. And they call that blossom end rot.”