Now that you’ve got a great growing media to work with, it’s time to fill your containers! Containers should be placed upon their supporting frame before being filled, and orientated so that the Ergrownomic logo faces outwards (towards where you’ll stand!) The containers are always pre-drilled so that the irrigation manifold is on the end of the row. The container with the larger holes to receive the irrigation manifold should therefore be placed as the ‘front’ container, with the largest holes facing outwards towards you, and not trapped between two containers!
The mesh bags should be part-filled with drainage stone 10-15 mm in diameter (but any permeable material will suffice), and placed in the sump of each container. The bag should be ‘patted down’ to distribute the stone evenly to all four corners so that on completion the top of the bag is level with the base surface. The bag “flap” should be folded over the mouth, and the geotextile panel placed into the container to cover the base surface. A small quantity of the soil-based growing media should be placed over the panel to weight it down, and hold it in position.
A first layer of soil-based growing media should be placed in the container using a trowel; this should be around 10-12 cm thick. This should then be lightly consolidated using the palm of the hand. The process should be repeated a second and third time. The soil level should, on completion, be level with the pre-drilled holes at each end of containers.
Any clumps of soil and compost identified in the course of filling containers should either be broken up, or (if too hard and resistant) removed and discarded. Any stones, rootlets and debris should also be removed as-and-when encountered.
The soils should be watered using a watering can until such time as water flows freely from the drainage holes in the container sump. This will promote the collapse of larger voids, whereupon the soil-based growing media can be topped up back level with the predrilled holes. The process should be repeated twice to ensure that your container is properly filled, and the soil not likely to collapse under the next rain!
The irrigation system should not be installed until the containers are filled with soils.
The tightness of the hexagonal nuts in clamps on the frame should be checked after the frame is loaded with the soil-filled container, and adjusted accordingly with any splaying of the supports corrected (these can be tapped gently back using a rubber mallet or similar); they should not be kicked into place as this does not provide the necessary sensitive adjustment!