I love self watering planters; they are both brilliant and forgiving. There are so many tutorials out there about constructing your own self watering planter. In the most basic form, there is a water basin, a contained small area of soil touching down into the water basin, and an upper basin holding all the soil and plants. A Brita, or any water filter type pitcher, has a lower basin (where all the filtered water goes), an upper basin where the faucet water goes, and a cylinder to hold the filter that reaches from the upper chamber to the lower. Exact same idea as a self watering planter.
I thought I'd give it a try as a mini kitchen garden. I put some decorative rocks in the lower chamber so my planter would have a lower center of gravity and be less likely to tip over. Then I placed a square of old t-shirt (anything that allows water through but stops all the dirt from coming out the bottom will work) over the grate at the bottom of the cylinder. Filled the top chamber with soil and potted a few lettuce seedlings. Then a watered a bit on the top of the soil to get it going and filled the bottom chamber with water. The water level has to be fairly high because it must be filled a few inches above the cylinder.
That was it. All I had to do was maintain the water level above the cylinder. Full Disclosure: The water did get murky. I suppose one could lift of the plant part and fill the bottom with fresh water from time to time to have a more pleasant looking plant. But the main point is that the pitcher totally worked! Perfectly watered lettuce up until the time I ate it for dinner.
Currently, I have it next to a strawberry plant outside that is sending out runners. The runner roots are already coming out the bottom. So very easy, and a great way to up-cycle those old filter pitchers!
No comments:
Post a Comment