Self Watering Garden or Flower Bed

Ok, so this is going to take some planning and a little experimenting on your part!

I know you all have been up at 2am watching infomercials and have seen the things you stick in your plants so you don't have to water them everyday....and they are expensive, so what is a cheap gardener, like myself,  to do??

( this is where you have to start planning and preparing for next year)

You are going to need any old milk jugs, juice containers....anything gallon size that did not contain any hazardous materials, if you wouldn't drink it don't let your plants drink it!!  Rinse these containers well and store them until next spring.

How many you ask? ( here is where the experimenting comes in) I don't know!! The size of your garden or flower bed will determine how many containers you need. I would suggest 1 container every 4 feet.

Fast forward to spring when you look and see all the containers you have saved. ( Hopefully your shed or garage is not bursting at the seams!)

Here is the fun part...you will need a drill, preferably with a 3/32 size drill bit. Drill 5 or 6 holes in the bottom of your containers. Now you have 2 options...you can set the containers on top of the ground every 4 feet or you could dig about 4 inches in to the soil and place the containers in the ground. So plant your plants as regular then every 4 feet place a container in the same row. Also put one at the beginning and end of every row. ( For example if you have an 8 foot row you need one container at the beginning, one 4 feet in and one at the end...so 3 containers)

If you are using the containers for your flower beds that are in regular view and don't want everyone seeing just plain ole plastic containers, then get the kids involved....have them decorate the containers how ever you would like!

After you have placed all the containers where you want them fill them with water.

Here is the "scientific" part. As the soil drys it will pull the water from the containers as needed, kind of like a capillary action but, if the soils is moist the water will remain in the containers!

MAGIC!  You now have a Self-watering garden or flower bed. 

Well ok so you still have to fill the containers when they need it. For a while you may have to keep a close eye on your containers until you get an idea of how fast the containers empty...which of course will be more or less depending on the temperature and rainfall in your area.

Your containers can be reused year after year or all year round in your flower beds. A little bonus to give you the warm and fuzzys.....you just kept all those plastic containers out of a landfill!! ( I am sure you would have recycled them anyway instead of throwing them away....RIGHT?????)