Making your own self watering planter
I love all the self water planters that have come out on the market recently. Luckily one source for gardening toys tools, Gardeners Supply, has their main offices here and an outlet store as well. Many times I have looked at the catalog for things then run over to the outlet store for deeply reduced prices on product. One item I picked up for a song was this large self watering planter, sans self water kit, for a steal. Being somewhat resourceful, :), I knew I could remedy the situation..
Empty Planter
I needed a support system to create a separate space for a water reservoir that would easily fit the width of the pot. Looking around the house I saw that the plant carriers from our local greenhouses would be perfect and something I had plenty of.
Assembling the parts for the inside planter
The plant carrier wasn’t long enough to span the entire length of the planter, I would need two carriers to get the job done and add strength to the support. One end of the carrier was cut off to make them fit snuggly together.
Cut one end off so they fit together well.
Once you have the end of the plant carrier modified you can place on carrier over the other so that the carrier can span the planter. Luckily the edges of the plant carrier holds the system at a good height and there are supports in the middle of the planter to hold up the system. If I hadn’t had this support system to hold up the carriers I would have used a few upturned smaller plant pots to hold up the system.
One fits right over the other one now!
Tight fit, like a bug in a rug!
My next concern was keeping soil from filling the water reservoir but allowing roots to get through. Wet newspaper would be the perfect answer to this dilemma. A few layers of wet newsprint was all I needed to contain the soil above the reservoir.
Laying down wet newspaper
Once the paper is in place you need a way to get water into the reservoir, I used a simple plastic hose approximately the size of a water hose, which I found at a hardware store. To secure the hose to the edge of the planter a gardening clip, which can be made by shaping a wire coat hanger unto a U shape.
Placing a hose to add water later
Using a plant clip to anchor the hose end
Once the whole system is in place then I poked a drainage hole just over the level of the system to release any water overage so as to not drown the plants.
My work is done, planted
This plant pot is now converted to a self watering planter using the plant trays we brought home to carry the plants used around the garden.
If you’d like to create your own hypertufa planter that too is an easy DIY project.
Janet, this is awesome! Love it, may just have totry it!
Sharing is always welcomed and much appreciated.. Have fun making these yourself.
What a great idea. The flowers look beautiful too.
This is something that can be duplicated with any type of pot.
Hey there Janet, this is a brilliant idea, I will have to pass this on to Slappy Bear when he gets planting 😉
Karen if you have any questions you be sure to let me know ASAP….. I am always here to help out.
Great idea. The Self watering planter really looks pretty.
Thank you, I think it came out well too. Once everything is assembled it only take a few minutes to put it together, a great way to adapt those large planters without self watering systems in place.
Thanks for the info! I love your site!!!!!! I actually have a bunch of unused rubbermaid rectangular containers that I am going to use to make these self-watering containers. Worried a little that the plastic might crack when I use the hole saw to create the hole for the wicking basket, but there is only one way to find out. 🙂
I hope your project goes well and you don’t crack your planter.