Earthbox, welcome to Home Depot!

I was at Home Depot getting supplies for my school garden, when I noticed this unique display. An Earthbox!As a fan of Robert Hyland's work at insideurbangreen.org,

I am aware how unavailable Earthboxes are in local retail in NYC. It always confused my why this great product--supported by the UN's food and Agriculture Organization's Growing Connection--is not available more widely. Well, the answer is here now.

I talked to the manager of the garden section, and he explained to me the Bed-Stuy Home Depot serves as a test market for other stores nationwide, so in the last week, this display had arrived. It was so new, there was not even a price on it. But it was only $49.99, just a few bucks more than Amazon. As you can see from this photo, it was already attracting interest. This woman was an afterschool teacher, who was very interested by the educational material provided by Earthbox.

So of course, I had to buy one! As I have it at home now, really look at the workings of it, its just an injection molded plastic box with some prefit pieces and nutrient solution included. My DIY sense of frugality led me to notice the $4.50 18 gallon plastic bins across the store, that could easily be converted into sub-irrigation planters on par with earthboxes.

We vote with our dollars in this society, so I am happy with my purchase, and eager to get started with my Earthbox on the roof of Bushwick Campus! But DIY, here I come!