One of the BIG drawbacks of container gardening is the need for constant watering. Until now! A recent post on the blog highlighted a new idea from the US. It is so simple it is just astounding. See the entry here. The containers have a water reservoir in the bottom with drainage holes about 50-75mm (2-3inches) up the side of the container. Gravel is used to fill the bottom up to the level of the holes. Compost is added on top. I liked the idea so much I decided to have a go at adapting some old water troughs left over from a project. It took about 15-20 minutes to make and fill each container.
Step by step instructions
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| Drill holes about 50mm from the bottom spaced about 250mm apart. I used a 10mm drill. |
Fill with gravel up to the levels of the holes. | Fill the trough with water. |
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| Add the peat free compost. | Sow the seeds. The mixed salad germinated in 5 days (in sumer.) | Here is the large lettuce trough24 days later. We used the thinnings every day. |
That’s it! All you need to do is periodically add water until in runs out of the holes and don’t forget to feed the plants. This year I will use home made comfrey liquid fertliser diluted 1:20 with water.