How Self Watering Garden Planters Work

One of the most popular garden tools today is a relatively new invention: Self Watering Garden Planters. With these ingenious planters, you can have a container garden which flourishes as if you’re caring for it every single day, even if you barely touch it at all.

A self watering garden planter will do what it sounds like: Water the plants in it automatically, on it’s own. Now it’s not 100% maintenance free of course, because you do have to add water to it at some point, but it’s needed much less often than normal. Some self watering garden planters can actually go for a full month without having extra water added to them.

Self watering garden containers can be used to create any type of container garden you’d like: Vegetables, herbs, flowers, vines, annuals, perennials, miniature bushes or trees and so on. If a plant can grow in a regular garden container, then it can also grow in a self watering one too.

Self watering garden containers are basically garden planters which have a water reservoir built into them. All you have to do is fill that reservoir when it’s low, and the container will take care of watering the plants for you automatically.

How often you have to add water to the reservoir will depend on the particular container you choose. Some specialty self watering garden containers can water your plants and flowers for several weeks before needing to be refilled, while others will need to have water added at least once each week. Of course the location of your planter will make a difference too, because outdoor containers which get a lot of hot sunlight will use water faster than those sitting indoors or in shady areas.

Most self watering garden containers also have a water wick which runs from the water reservoir up into the soil surrounding your plants. This wick is a simple absorbant cloth, and its job is to simply suck water from the reservoir into the plant soil on a steady basis.

Specialty self watering containers can be a bit on the expensive side. It’s not uncommon to see prices of $50 or more per container. You can however, create your own fairly easily. Do it yourself versions tend to be much smaller though, because they’re usually made with plastic water bottles or milk jugs. They’re wonderful for growing kitchen herb gardens, small plants, and starting seeds too.

To create your own small self watering garden container, simply cut a plastic bottle or jug in half. The bottom half will act as your reservoir, and the top will be inverted and used as the plant container. You can place a wick in the bottle’s original neck opening - use either an old tshirt scrap or a piece of floral foam in that opening. Once you have your wick in place, simply invert the top so that the wick is now inside the water reservoir, then add your potting mix and seeds or small plants.