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

Step 10: Planting the seeds

Now that the planter is finished, it is time to plant seeds. The planter is useful for growing small plants such as herbs and flowers or as a starter for larger plants that will have to be transplanted later. Make sure to provide the plants with the proper amount of sunlight that they need to grow.

The wick delivers clean water from the reservoir up into the soil and to the roots. This is quite useful, since the plants can be left unattended for periods of time because the soil waters itself. Basically, they can be left alone and grow with little care from the gardener. Using a two liter bottle, two inches of water keeps the soil moist for nearly two weeks or more. I have been pleasantly surprised with how well this works.

About once every few weeks, I remove the cup, water the soil, rinse off the wick and allow it to drain. This helps to wash out any buildup of minerals in the soil and completely rehydrates everything. Take care to let it drain completely so as not to contaminate the new fresh water in the reservoir.

Then, the cup goes back into the reservoir and I can walk away from it for another couple of weeks.