I should have done the google before posting. I found several references to GW threads about the blocks. I will fill them with cheap Lowes dirt and try out some things. Its getting too late for a lot of things, but I have plenty of left over, common vegetable seeds to experiment with. This will greatly expand my growing space for the fall plantings.

Here's a DIY from the Epcot Flower Festival 2012

You just have to remember to water the plants well, they will dry out fast and the roots will get hot in the summer months in the concrete blocks.

Well, that was an interesting and disappointing experiment. I watered daily and fertilized with a liquid fertilizer. The corn plants made it to full size, but only set two partial ears among the 20 plants. It looks like some of them may have been eaten but most had cobs with a few kernels. The peppers were a mixed bag. I got a single full sized fruit from the Pablano and the Anaheim. All of the bell type peppers set multiple fruit, but they were about a quarter normal size. The white radishes didn't want to form a globe. Some of the red radishes formed, but were hotter than the hot peppers. The lettuce bolted, even though we harvested enough to give away from the raised bed. The pole beans are still trying to do something. I had a 3 foot high fence section in front of them to stop the dogs from digging for palmetto bugs. The squirrels ate all the leaves from the top of the privacy fence, down to the portable panel... not once, but several times.

The Nemagone marigolds like the blocks, so maybe some small ornamental flowers in the blocks next year. The vegetables will go in raised beds.

Larry

Maybe you could plant flowers that attract pollinators and other beneficial insects, so it will still be good for your veggies too.

Hi Larry

To give you an idea of what can be grown in cement blocks and different weather, here is an interesting thread from the vegetable forum. His soil also is very especial, that is the reason of the bountiful harvest.:)
Scroll down and you can see pansies, you can substitute lantana (you cannot kill those, you can put heat tolerant lettuce when it gets colder, onions and in one of the pictures he is also growing New Zealand spinach, that one takes the heat and the cold and is not slimy like others.

Silvia

Here is a link that might be useful: vegetables in raised beds

Did you check the PH. The brick will cause the soil to be alkaline. You probably need to add sulfur to neutralize it.