Self-watering planter made from recycled bottles…clever clever.

Instead of throwing away that used wine bottle, why not put it to good use? These self-watering planters made using recycled wine bottles provide an attractive method to keep your moisture-loving plants happy and healthy.

DIY: Self-watering Planters From a Wine Bottle

Materials:

beer bottles, wine bottles or plastic bottles if you don’t want to mess with cutting the glass. (Tip: The glass bottles make beautiful windowsill planters and they are more durable than plastic)
rubber stopper
square piece of window screen (about 2? x 2?)
piece of string and stopper
potting soil
herbs or plants of your choice

Here’s how:

Step 1

The first step is to cut the bottle. There are many tutorials online showing different ways to cut glass bottles, but the one that seems to be the easiest uses acetone, string, fire and cold water. Here is a video to demonstrate this method:

Once the bottle is cut, you’ll want to sand the edges down a bit so they aren’t too sharp.

Step 2

To avoid two glass bottles sliding through each other, put a rubber stopper at the opening of the wine bottle – at 3, 6,9, and 12 o’clock (see example above).

Cut a hole in the center of the screen large enough for the string to pass through. Double up the string so that both ends remain loose and pass the middle loop through the hole in the screen. Tie a knot large enough that it can’t pass back through the screen or use electrical tape or other material to serve as a stopper.

Step 3

Next, run the string down the neck of the bottle top and let the screen rest at the top. This will be the planter. The loose ends of the string will hang down into the bottom half of the bottle, which will hold the reservoir of water.

Step 4

Fill the space above the screen with soil and add your plant. Fill the bottom of the bottle with water and place the top half into it. Make sure the string sits down in the water. This will act as a wick to draw water up into the soil.