Build a Self Watering Container

Visit http://www.rootsimple.com for more tips from an urban homestead. And see http://www.motherearthnews.com/do-it-... for an excerpt from out book the Urban Homestead on how to build a self watering container.

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[Pressurewashingtips]

lol I know, the music alone drove me insane

[PeruTheDamaja]

Easily the most annoying how-to I've ever watched.

Also: the title is misleading. Should be called "How to take a garden and completely throw its positive aesthetics out the window by disguising it as garbage."

[David Tenorio]

screw them .. great music :)

[afterburnerboyz]

I'm dizzy now

[DaveWreckingCrew]

What? I loved every second! Its refreshingly crude.

[skayc1]

It's a problem with any soil, during winter with snow it drowns the plants.

[skayc1]

try this instead if leaving your plants outside, use one container, fill the bottom with upside down quart plastic jugs, to create your reservoir, place drainage holes on side where the top of the quart jars are, fill with your soil, poking soil between quart jars to create a wicking action. My roses drowned when I used the design in your video, and survived in what I described, plus you only need 1 5 gallon bucket!

[captainsvejk]

I think this can be a problem if you use a soil with a high clay content, rather than a more fibrous compost mix. Obviously some species are more compatible with this kind of system that others, and it suits plants like Basil and Parsley very well because they like soil that's constantly damp. It's difficult and expensive to run a drip system everywhere, so this design can be very useful in the right circumstances. :)

[captainsvejk]

No, that's what the hole in the side is for.

[craigan123]

I made thirty of these and found it to be a bad system. The soil at the bottom says wet all the time, gets foul and you end up with root rot. Better of with one bucket with some gravel at the bottom, with a lot of holes underneath. If you want self watering, go to a drip system.

[RageAgainstRustyCage]

Someone showed me a completed one of these. It works. I might try it out myself, now.