Smart Pots 12100 Big Bag Bed Fabric Raised Bed, Black

Ok, Smart Pots awesome. See my photo taken 10th October 2015, where it's STILL producing like mad [picked a bunch of yellow summer squash, cukes and still tomatoes this morning], in Colorado no less. I just bought several Junior bag beds to add to my garden to grow more next year, (ditching all other pots) and some taller pot style Smart Pots to try potatoes & some new things. For Soil, additives, fertilizer and irrigation I used, see below.. it was foolproof, anyone could do this.I used a mix of (all organic) garden soil for raised beds (NOT potting soil), my own & some commercial compost dirt (I compost over winter, Colorado Boulder area gets 300 days of sun, so it works), some vermiculite to aerate and retain moisture, little bit of lime on the tomatoes side, some coir throughout and shoved uncomposted bananas, eggshells, coffee grounds & some other soft, non seeded veggie waste, straight into the soil all season.I planted the seedlings I raised back in Feb (inside by a south facing window, in a cheap little greenhouse that can be disassembled). I placed a mint plant (chocolate mint because I like the flowers) in the middle (MUST be in a container, in the earth, not direct planted or it will take over your bed & garden !) to keep bugs at bay and it worked, I don't used any herbicides or pesticides & grow completely organic, I use Dr. Earth 706P Organic 7 All Purpose Fertilizer in Poly Bag, 4-Pound fertilizer (various ones for general and tomatoes etc)The Coir I used, was this one and I just bought more Compressed Coconut Coir Brick, 10 Pound (lb)-Green Texan Organic FarmsI irrigated it with just micro line drippers running off a standard garden hose connected to a timer system, used one 2 gal-per-hour dripper at the bottom of each tomato plant (4 of them - 2 yellow salad pear and 2 giant heirloom and got SO MANY I ran out of room in our giant freezer after making 2 very big batches of sauce (over 60 pounds worth), eating pounds, giving bags of them away), PLUS planted eggplant (1 plant), cucumber (1 plant), summer squash (4 plants, different kinds) and a bell pepper. I increased auto watering time over the summer as they grew and rooted deeper. Very efficient & easy.It all fit in the largest Bag Bed, Not ONE thing died or failed to produce, they all grew and all produced incredibly well all summer (some still are & it's almost mid Oct), especially the tomatoes, squash and cukes. Best growing system I ever used. EVER. Better than my raised cedar bed or whiskey barrel or other pots or ground planting and I can reuse it for at least a few years.I'm also going to try my herbs in the upright hanging-garden style ones next season, attached to the fence, being all about efficient watering and irrigation on everything, because I have automatic timers set up on 3 garden hose lines with a 12 line micro tube manifold set up on each hose for my veggies, flowers & herbs to each bed and pot, so for a disabled person, this makes it possible for me to garden, for an able person, it makes it effortless, once set up.It was lot of effort to set all this up, mostly the irrigation, but the Smart Pots were the absolute easiest part and WOW are they sturdy and work exceedingly well at growing anything. I'm prepping my new ones now for next year so all I have to do is turn the soil a bit, fertilize and throw my seedlings in there. Just Awesome and pays for itself in organic produce in weeks once fruiting starts.I did also use an Earth Box to grow more tomatoes and although they produced well, it was a complete pain to water down a tube (my only manual watering, because a micro line wouldn't fill it during the timer watering I had everything on), to fill the base of the box so it would wick up water. The legs collapsed on the one I had, so I put it on the ground, but the rubber thing holding the (barely big enough) black plastic you have to use, over the plant bases snapped as soon as it got some sun and kind of flapped there all summer with the plants just holding it (I tried to tie it, but kept coming loose), but resulted in a lot of evap and the plants never got as big and fruitful as the Smart Pots plants which were a lot less effort.Nope, not affiliated with this company in anyway, but I'll praise the product all day long.

I purchased 3 of these spring of 2015. First off, understand that you'll need to fill these liners to the top or their sides will cave inward...and it takes a LOT of dirt to fill them up.Bed #1 was filled with purchased Miracle Grow Organic and planted with strawberries and pansies. I raised this bed above ground by placing it on 5 straw bales. A mistake. Also, despite putting in 12 1.5-cu bags of soil, the liner wasn't filled to the very top and the top of the sides caved in a bit, covering some of the plants that were close to the edge of the bed. I plan to put the liner on the ground in the fall, raise the soil level, and re-plant the strawberries that remain. I didn't get the crop I expected probably because it was in an area that was difficult to monitor a much as it needed. So, placing the bed in a more convenient spot is another thing I'll do this fall, too. The fact that you can do that is a plus with this kind of bed -- it's easy to move and change your mind regarding soil and placement, etc.Bed #2 was planted in greens and herbs, all of which did very, very well. No weeds. Clean soil -- no pathogens or dirt-based insect infestations. The plants have done very well: 4 Swiss chard plants have kept me (and others) in greens all summer; I expect them to continue well through fall and into winter. The herbs are also doing great. The mistake I made, as with the strawberries, was not filling the liver to within an inch of the top: the sides fold into more than I like. However, soon I'll plant the herbs and remaining plants elsewhere and dump the soil. Then, I'll put in fresh dirt to the top and seed chard, garlic, and onions to get a start in spring. It's nice to be able to start "fresh."Bed #3 was planted to tomatoes. What I did was to plant tomato seedlings around the edge of the liner, spacing them about 10"-12" apart: about 8-10 plants. Then, I made a tepee affair with some stakes, training the tomatoes on twine that was tied around the stakes at different levels. The center was left empty -- which made it very easy for watering. Also, the growing plants created their own "mulch," shading the center from the sun (thus less evaporation) and making it easy to pick fruit that developed among the leaves underneath. As in the other two beds, I did not put in as much dirt as I should have -- though, as I think about it now, with tomatoes, it would have been very easy to fill in with more dirt. Any way, I didn't...and, as it turned out it didn't matter that much, because I have tomatoes galore that are easy to pick, taste great, and are doing wonderfully. I will dump the dirt in fall, somehow "sanitize" the liner, and plants tomatoes the same way next year.As I write this, my appreciation for the beds has increased. They allowed me to have beds where it would have been very difficult for me to have anything growing (did I mention that the property was once a drive-in theater and has a 4-6" layer of gravel under the grass??). It also will allow me to refresh my soil so that crop rotation might not be necessary -- if you have one and only one spot for tomatoes and other sun-lovers, you can clean up the debris and dump the dirt elsewhere and start over with the liner in the same place every year.The one piece of advice I'd give is to be prepared to fill the liners to the top with soil...which could take as much as 20 2-cu ft bags of planting soil. It may be more cost effective to find a building or landscaping supplier where you are able to buy your soil in bulk. Just know where they get the soil.

I love using large round grow bags on metal outdoor table tops. On this one, I had to improvise and put wooden planks around the bottom edge to make so it didn't hang over an inch all around. It's not really deep enough to use it on the ground. You're better off buying a deeper round metal or rectangle container for a raised bed on the ground for versatility. I have another grow bag that is 40 inches on a 2nd table, but that leaves 6 inches of unused space all around. Table tops are great for growing bush green beans because you can easily harvest without bending over. On. both table top bags, I've lined them with stiff landscape edging to prevent the top edge from collapsing in. The result is a study growing medium and use of a table over concrete to expand your growing space. Such grow bags also work well for greens, turnips, radishes, or beets.

This is a super simple nice and deep raised bed. I am putting in an order for two more. Very pleased that the packaging does not include any plastic (bonus points here). No fussing with frames and supports. Good sturdy material. I filled it up with my own mix of 50% manure, 34% peat moss, 16% sand. I sift these ingredients using 1/4" wire mesh stretched over a wooden frame. It takes about 6 wheel barrows to fill. I have tried various raised beds over the years as the Island we live on is mostly rocks and poor soil. I like that this bed does not have a frame of wood, bricks or rocks that attract ants.

Well I have bought so many of these already and need to buy some more..... We had a terrible wind storm here a downburst and a tree fell on the one bed.......the plants were crushed but the bed held up fine.I would buy another one of these in a heartbeat.......they are easy setup..........

Awesome bags to plant veggies and fruits. We filled 3 of these with half horse poo and half pro mix, with wonderful results

Very cool. I did not keep, returned for a more suitable option for me (rectangular planter). Not the thickest material, but would certainly work well and hold up to a few seasons. Price point is good for this type of planter.

WELL MADE GREAT SIZE