natjtan Welcome back to another Recycle Less! This edition features an easy self watering plant system using plastic bottles.
I’m in no way a green thumb, but I try. I mentioned recently I follow Hamimommy on YouTube a day in a housewife vlog, who too cares for the environment, sharing tips and ideas on how to help lead a more sustainable lifestyle. One vlog she featured an easy self watering system for growing edible plants indoors as in the video below using plastic bottles. Curious to see if it worked, I had an 8L water bottle left over from holiday I didn’t want to throw out. No not hoarding! It still had some water in it, I hadn’t got around to using up. In Spain the water isn’t nice out the tap, so when away buy bottled water. At home I use a tap water filter.
It’s really easy to set up:
Cut the bottle about 1/3 down from the top.
Keep the lid and cut a hole in it.
Thread through a cloth or rag through the hole in the lid and screw the lid back on. I used part of a bamboo cleaning cloth. Have about 1/3 or a bit more of the cloth in the inside of the bottle.
Place the now cut 1/3 bottle with the lid upside down on the remainder of the 2/3 bottle and fill with soil making sure the cloth is sufficiently in the soil to draw up water.
Plant seeds or the plant in the soil.
Remove the now 1/3 part and fill the 2/3 bottle with water so the bamboo cloth extends down to the water to soak up the water. The plant in its own time will soak up the water when it needs it! Place near or on a sunny location.
Change the water every now and then to ensure it’s getting enough water and/or clean the reservoir part from algae if left in the sun.
Does it work? Yes!
I managed to grow one spinach plant at the wrong time of year because I was curious and couldn’t wait until the spring. I’m not sure it was a strong spinach plant as it had small leaves, however it was so cool to watch it grow!
It’s a great idea if you don’t have much space and want to grow plants, food or are a lazy gardener. This past winter I’ve been saving bottles to start planting next month lettuce, rocket and verbenas! I’m hoping these are easy plants to start with that don’t require much growing space.
Thank you for stopping by!