Do you have trouble watering plants in the summer?
Worry when you go away they'll die?
Does it get super hot in your area, so hot you use far too much water on your vegetable garden?
I can answer yes, yes and yes to the above questions, and in the last few days it's been ovre 30 degrees and as high as 41 - that's celsius for Fahrenheit people - 40C is 104F! Not only that, but it gets super super windy too - I'm talking apocalypse weather.
A few months ago I found a solution - well, two - wicking beds, and ollas pots. Ollas are terracotta urns filled with water and buried in the soil, so the roots cling to the wet sides and take what they need. Yesterday's weather was a real test of both my wicking bed system and my ollas, and I'm pleased to say they worked BETTER than expected. Watch the Dtube for a run down of the pot system and find out what I use to fertilise my tomatoes - too easy, as they say in these here parts!
As you can see below, the eggplant are doing well and the pot is half full of water. It's been a week since I filled the pot so that's pretty good going - it's the biggest pot I have. It's too humid and sticky out there for me to go measure the pot but if you're super keen in the comments I'll let you know when it gets cooler.
The tomatoes on the left are HALF the size of the tomatoes on the right - planted at the same time, with the same soil. I have been watering them with the hose when I can, but quite intermittently as I get busy and forget (hence the research into these pots and wicking beds, which are less demanding).
Here's the Youtube link in case you have trouble viewing Dtube.
I'll do an update on my wicking beds over the next few days. You can find the link to the instructions for ollas below.
Homemade Ollas: Thinking about Water Use in the Garden Part 2
This is for @minismallholding, who lives in Adelaide and gets similiar weather to me - if they get the heat, sure as hell we will too. It's also for @nateonsteemit, one of the most generous Steemians I know, who lives in Texas.
I'd also like to put a shout out to @phoenixwren, who is doing a fabulous Evergreen Challenge - check it out here. He's doing an update soon as I'm also throwing 10SBI in to the prize pool and I think a lot of you are doing great stuff which you should definitely consider for this challenge.
Would you try these for your garden?
Have you used ollas before?
Check out @naturalmedicine and pop into our Discord here
▶️ DTube
▶️ IPFS
This seems like a great solution, the only thing I am worried about are mosquitoes, how do you deal with them?
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Lids!
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I grow outdoor in Las Vegas and could utilize this to help expand the garden, great share tthanks & resteemed!
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Oh, Las Vegas would be a perfect spot for them!
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Great!
What an awesome idea with comfrey, and look at your comfrey plants too! What good looking plants all around.
The wind in our area is bad too and it seems to just suck everything dry. I'll almost certainly be using ollas in some beds this year.
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Yes, the comfrey patch is right next to the compost for a reason...... Great, stoked you'll be using them too - we are the big experimenters, aren't we!
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EVERYTHING is an experiment!
How long will it be before my baby comfrey are that big? I'm thinking of buying some seeding variety so they'll take over the world and make people really mad after we move out of this house 😂
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Hahaha they will die off in winter... the roots stay in soil ready for Spring. Not sure how long bit once they are grown they just come back that big every year.
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They die in the winter? I thought they were hardy plants!
Should I cut and harvest before they all die? Some are still sprouting new growth, well past first frost. And third frost.
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Mine don't, wonder if it's a different variety. Hmm. I do harvest for the compost and comfrey tea.
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Glad they are work out great :)
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Thanks! Yeah, I'm pleasantly surprised!
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Oooo love this @riverflows it rarely gets to 30c in the Uk but its a struggle for sure. Im totally getting in on this next year love thats its watering a slug trap and feed station 😄 i need to find some terracota pots without holes in the bottom that may be my biggest challenge. Thanks so much for sharing 💚
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@digitaldan just plug em with concrete or putty!!! That's what I did. Click on the link to my previous post which shows you exactly what I did. They were just old pots I had lying around!!! Easy as xx
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Ooo missed the link sorry, good idea ive got a few tall narrow terracotta pots that could work great for this, funnily enough there rubbish for growing plant in as the wick all the water from the soil 😄 thanks for the reply
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Excellent!
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Wow , self water garden, it's giving me kind of goosebumps . It's very important too because we forgot sometimes or even we are out for a days. Really you had done a great thing, just keep up the work like this :)
#snapcomment
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Goosebumps!!! But yeah, if you are prone to disappear but still want a garden, this is a great choice!
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Never thought to do that! That looks really helping!! And for the leaves that you put in the pot, can we add anykind of leaves?
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Perhaps - but comfrey is particularly good for tomatoes.
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I use ollas, I've got all sorts of old terracotta pots buried in the ground and they've really helped. I forgot to pull them all up before winter so I am hoping they aren't cracked and ruined. I did have the fill the bottom 1/3 with pebbles to slow the water from running out as all my pots had a hole in the middle for drainage. The ground is too frozen and deep with snow to try to recover them.
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oh fantastic, great to hear from someone else who uses them! Ooops, hope they don't crack!
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So happy those are working for you!
they are even doing double or triple duty for you - catching snails and a feeding system for your compost tea!
I couldn't even imagine being in 40 degree heat!
Never gets that hot here but then we always have the cooling shade of the big evergreens!
Thanks for sharing!
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You're welcome! yes it's an awesome system, so glad I discovered it. That kind of heat is awful @porters, we all struggle through it... we basically go into survival mode! The evergreens would provide nice shade for sure - but even in the shade it's oppressively hot. Thank goodnessit's cooled down today - I have the doors and windows open now refreshing the air xx
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Thank goodness it didn't seem to last long and now you know how to have your garden survive too!
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I am so going to be using this in Colorado! We have dry season, winter, and monsoon season and very little in between. A nice constant and maintenance light water source like this is exactly what we need! Brilliant. Thanks for sharing!
Xx ToL
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Awesome!!!! Yes, I reckon they'll be perfect!!!!
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Thats amazing how well they're working. I'm making plans for my only terracotta pot now!
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Awesome!!! yeah I'm stoked, I'm suprised we don't know about them as standard here.... they work so well. The plants didn't even wilt in that kill heat yesterday and I didn't water them at all!! Good luck, let me know how you go!!!
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That's interesting and may be I can try it out. I don't have many plants only for the 2 major reasons 1 the climate and other is I keep travelling so for the watering part.
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Yes, travelling makes it hard. That's why I came up with this - didn't want stuff to die when I was away and nor did I want mum to have to water every day - now she only has to check every 4th or 5th day or maybe if it's silly hot.
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It is so great to see how well these are working for you, I am definitely going to be using them come the summer here for my tomatoes. It must be so satisfying seeing the progress, yeah to clay pots xxxx
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Yes, they'll be great for your tomatoes!!!! Especially with comfrey fertiliser in them!
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Great idea. I will try it!
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Fab, let me know how it goes!
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Omg, this might save the plants that will inevitably be killed by my neglect. My only concern is pools of water attracting and breeding the mozzies...
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No no no mozzies @linnyplant, you put a lid on it! I use the plastic lids from gallon buckets but you can use the saucer for the pots if you have them and block the holes up! Trust me, it's a winner, I'm hoping it'll spread over Australia because of this one Steempost haha xxx
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You’re a garden angel. ❤️
I will test this out soon!
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Let me know how you go! Someone said you could plug the hole with plaster of paris??? But not sure how waterproof that is? A bag of concrete from bunnings should do it. x
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Wow, this is very good sir. I left the honey rose apple for 10 days. And the tree is dry and like there is no hope for life. The leaves fall down. I'm very sad for that. Is there a way for the rose apple trees that we plant in the container? Thank You Sir..
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Some people put a long pipe in to the roots, so you don't have the evaporation problem..or... try a wicking system.. have you heard of it? If you put the apple trees put in a container of water the soil will 'wick" the water up. Another thing is get a bottle of water and put a string in it so it goes from the water to the soil.. the water will move up the string into the soil. Let me know how you go xx
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I mean "Rose Apple" in container as polybag Sir..
I Just heard about Wicking System, and i Will try a bottle of water and put a string in it so it goes from the water to the soil..
Yes, I vacation out of town to meet my parents. Travel overland there 3 days 3 nights, so long enough to leave the tree itself..
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We haven't tried them but know folks who have used them successfully
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