DIY self watering plant containers

Sorry folks, I have been MIA lately. I have just been a busy bee! 

I saw my friend post this on Facebook a while ago.


I loved it so much I asked her if she could guest post here.

Thanks so much Desarae for the fantastic post!

So I was cruising around on Pinterest the other day and came across a blog about how to make self-watering start containers for growing fruits and veggies. It piqued my interest because that's the big problem I have with growing things, I have no clue when or how much to water things! And an even bigger bonus, all i had to buy was potting soil and seeds, everything else I already had on hand!

Supplies: 

2 liter soda bottles (empty and cleaned) with caps (1 for each type of seed) I planted 5 types so I have 5 bottles

thread/string/yarn you will need about a foot for each bottle

potting soil

seeds

rubber mallet/hammer

phillips head screwdriver

sharp knife

Directions:

first, after cleaning the empty bottles cut them in half with the knife (a lot harder than I thought it would be! mine definitely don't have straight or pretty edges but hey, it works!)

second, place the cap on a hard surface (I put a cutting board on the floor) and punch a hole through the center with the screwdriver and the mallet. Don't worry about damaging the surface underneath, it doesn't go in that far as long as you don't keep hitting it!! Twist the cap a few times to make a hole, otherwise you just get a useless cross pattern and you can't get the string through!

third, fold your string in half and make a knot at the looped end and string through the cap, place the cap back on the bottle

fourth, put potting soil into the top half of the bottle (hold onto the string so it comes up into the center of the soil), leave at least an inch open at the top, plant your seeds according to the package

fifth, put water into the bottom half of the bottle, make sure not to submerge the cap when the top half is placed inside

sixth, water the soil thoroughly making sure all the soil and the string is wet, otherwise the string will not be able to pull water up when it needs it. Then all you need to do is make sure the reserve doesn't get empty, just lift the top off and put water in then put the top back on!

seventh, if you want you can add something pretty to the container so it doesn't look so ugly! I added green ribbon so the containers match my kitchen!

And there you have it, six easy steps to making your own self-watering containers!