How To Make a Self-Watering Planter

Pots of annuals, herbs, and even vegetables are useful and attractive. What porch is complete without a few cheerful containers of annuals? But in the heat of summer, these containers dry out very quickly, and unless they are watered at least once or twice a day, those cheerful annuals will start looking withered, droopy, or even dead in no time.

The solution is a self-watering planter. These can be purchased from home and garden centers, of course, but they can be easily made using common items that most of us have lying around.

To make a self-watering planter, you will need:

• A large pot--this is what you will be planting your flowers in. It can be any material (clay, plastic, fiberglass) but plastic and fiberglass will retain moisture longer than clay.

• Potting soil

• Plants

• Clay Pot, three to four inches smaller in diameter than your main pot. For example, if you've chosen a plastic pot that is twelve inches in diameter, the largest clay pot you would choose would be eight inches in diameter.

• Cork or clay to block drainage hole in clay pot

How to Make Your Self-Watering Planter

1. First, cover the drainage hole in the clay pot. Use a cork of the appropriate size, or some modelling clay. In a pinch, some duct tape balled up and jammed into the hole will work as well.

2. Put a layer of dirt into the bigger pot, deep enough so that when you set the smaller pot on the layer of dirt, it is an inch below the rim of the larger pot.

3. Once the bottom layer of soil is at the proper depth, position your smaller pot in the very center of the larger pot, and use more soil to fill in around it. The soil should go all the way up to the top of the smaller pot.

4. Plant your flowers, herbs, or vegetables in the soil around the smaller pot.

5. Water the plants in well.

6. Fill the smaller pot with water.

7. Put the container in place, and just keep an eye on the smaller pot. Keep the water level topped off, and you won't have to worry about watering your container.

Why Does This Work?

This self-watering container works because clay pots are porous. The water from the small pot will leach out of the clay pot and into the surrounding soil, keeping the soil consistently damp, which is a condition that almost all plants thrive in. Blocking the hole in the bottom of the inner pot keeps the water from flooding into the soil too quickly.

This is a simple, inexpensive that will ensure that your container planting stay happy and healthy, even in hot, dry weather.