clay pot irrigation pots - maybe?

[pixelwitch]

Hello. I really don't know if this would interest anyone at all, but I just thought I'd mention it. Muji is having a sale and they're selling what they call Terracotta Wine Coolers reduced from £17 (!!) to £5. Probably not a thing high on your shopping list, and while the grid's still stuttering on, I can't see any reason to not just bung the wine in the fridge really. Though I guess they are quite elegant if you like that kind of thing, or might do okay as the interior part of a small zeer pot maybe.

But they caught my attention 'cos they're unglazed terracotta, and I've quite fancied getting hold of some of that since reading about clay pot irrigation on the pathToFreedom website. Here's some links if you're not sure what I mean:

http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/2008/05/29/ollas-2/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1zJlwRz-s4

You bury them in the ground next to your plants, fill them with water, and because the walls are semi-porous, the water seeps out over time and keeps the earth around the roots moist. So instead of remembering to have to water all the time - something I've been kinda failing at, you can just top up the water in the pot a lot less often instead.

It seemed like a good idea to me, particularly if we have a dry year, or if you've got a distant allotment maybe, but then I couldn't find anywhere that actually sold any unglazed terracotta pots at a reasonable price. Maybe I've not been looking in the right places but it all seemed a bit expensive, and well... a bit ornate for just burying in the mud. PathToFreedom sell some but well... in the States. These wine cooler things aren't as good a shape - they're just cylindrical. A narrower neck and a fatter bum would've been better, but still.. they take up less room than a plant pot shape, and hold about 3 pints/1.5 litres of water, and they come with a lid so you can keep the mosquitos out. I've been buying up a few of them this week, and trying them out in my raised bed, and they do seem to work. If there's not a Muji near you, it seems you can get them off their website. I don't know how they'll do when the frost comes though.

http://www.muji.eu/pages/online.asp?V=1 ... 2131&CHK=Y

I'm fairly new to the gardening though, and maybe they're not that necessary anyway if you've already got the whole mulching thing going on. I've not got around to trying that yet, although I do have that Dowding no-dig book sitting in my DODGY TAX AVOIDERS basket.

Anyway, I just thought I'd mention it in case somebody else had been looking for affordableish, unglazed clay, lidded pots with some volume, at all. I'm a quite sad person and actually got quite excited by them, so sort of wanted to share. Ahem..

I have read online though, that some people have also managed it by glueing 2 plain terracotta plant pots together, with a cork stuck in the drainage hole in the bottom to keep the water in. I don't know if that could maybe work out cheaper.

[kenneal - lagger]

Just bury a sawn off lemonade bottle next to your plants, top down, and fill with water occasionally. The water goes into the ground at root level and does not evaporate like surface watering does. You only have to water every three or four days then, depending on the plant, it's size and rainfall.

If you're having to water much this year you must be living on a sand pit. We haven't watered for weeks.

[Andy Hunt]

Thanks for the post Pixelwitch, this could be a really good idea for people going away for a week's holiday in hot weather or something - just something to keep the garden ticking over until after the holiday.

Food for thought!!

[pixelwitch]

Cheers Andy. A week's holiday in hot weather? Ooh, but that's a nice thought. Sigh.

And cheers, Kenneal. That sounds cheap and easy to try. I'll get on the lemonade and give it a go.