Matermark

That's great! Would you just call it a salsa, or is it a pico de gaillo? Sorry for the spelling! It looks like the latter... more solids than liquids.

Just a heads up---You need to follow a published recipe that's known/tested safe, and you should never alter it by adding more of something, for example, you cannot decide to add corn or black beans or more garlic. You can swap similar pH items, for example, if it calls for 2 cups of onions and 1 cup hot peppers, you can sub a mix of sweet peppers as long as it's an equal amount. You cannot ADD a cup more of peppers or onions. Both onions & peppers have very little acidity, they are considered a high pH item; you can replace onions with the same amount of peppers, or visa versa, just don't alter the total amount, which in my example totaled 3 cups.ALSO, you should always use bottled lemon juice instead of fresh lemon juice because it's made to a measured acidity, like 5%. Real lemon...

Just a heads up---You need to follow a published recipe that's known/tested safe, and you should never alter it by adding more of something, for example, you cannot decide to add corn or black beans or more garlic. You can swap similar pH items, for example, if it calls for 2 cups of onions and 1 cup hot peppers, you can sub a mix of sweet peppers as long as it's an equal amount. You cannot ADD a cup more of peppers or onions. Both onions & peppers have very little acidity, they are considered a high pH item; you can replace onions with the same amount of peppers, or visa versa, just don't alter the total amount, which in my example totaled 3 cups.ALSO, you should always use bottled lemon juice instead of fresh lemon juice because it's made to a measured acidity, like 5%. Real lemons can fluctuate due to growing conditions, varieties, how ripe they are, etc, and for safety, are not recommended. Hope this helps. By the way, for other recipes and lots of answers, visit the Harvest forum of GardenWeb, now Houzz, I think. There are many experts there that can explain things about safety...what not to add or change, etc. While there, check out the recipe for Annie's Salsa, it's one of the best on the internet!

Is the corrigated pipe the only thing that holds water? How does that work if it has holes? I've seen EarthBoxes but they have a barrier like a perforated piece or something to separate the water reservoir from the soil. Are you packing your soil/soilless mix all the way around the corrugated pipe and doesn't the water leave the corrugated pipe virtually as quickly as you pour it down the pvc pipe?

You were doing really well there! Vermiculite is the one that absorbs water, perlite just has tiny, microscopic crevices that can hold water, but because it floats, even that sounds suspect. Also, not mentioned by anybody yet, Vermiculite has a Cation Exchange Capacity and Perlite does not! Cation Exchange would be difficult to explain here, but it means it can hold a charge, like a chemical attraction. I'm not sure if that's good or bad in this use. But another concern is Vermiculite absorbs water and expands, whereas Perlite doesn't---I would think Perlite would be more stable, especially the coarser it is (super coarse is very difficult to crumble if squeezed between your fingers.) If you use Vermiculite instead of Perlite, what happens when that layer under the bricks dries up the m...

You were doing really well there! Vermiculite is the one that absorbs water, perlite just has tiny, microscopic crevices that can hold water, but because it floats, even that sounds suspect. Also, not mentioned by anybody yet, Vermiculite has a Cation Exchange Capacity and Perlite does not! Cation Exchange would be difficult to explain here, but it means it can hold a charge, like a chemical attraction. I'm not sure if that's good or bad in this use. But another concern is Vermiculite absorbs water and expands, whereas Perlite doesn't---I would think Perlite would be more stable, especially the coarser it is (super coarse is very difficult to crumble if squeezed between your fingers.) If you use Vermiculite instead of Perlite, what happens when that layer under the bricks dries up the moisture in the Vermiculite mix? I would think it may shrink or create air pockets, inside, while the Perlite wouldn't. Yet for every 1 Perlite build, I bet I see a hundred Vermiculite...

P.S. Does the crosscut sled render the digital unit useless/non-functional?