Graphic by Stephen Hargreaves

Container gardening: a how-to

Graphic by Stephen Hargreaves
Graphic by Stephen Hargreaves


H.G. Watson
CCE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

This guide will help you build a self-watering water bottle container to grow herbs in. You need:

• a bottle with a spout
• soil
• some rocks
• a piece of cotton or water absorbent fabric (it needs to plug the hole of the spout
• seeds, or an herb starter

Step 1) Cut the water bottle about 1⁄4 from the bottom so that the planting area is larger than the water reservoir

Step 2) Place your fabric through the spout and tie a knot in the side that will make up the planting area. This is so soil doesn’t breach through.

Step 3) Put some drainage rocks in the bottle all around the fabric — this provides drainage and stops the soil for mix- ing with the water.

Step 4) Add soil and seeds. The seeds should be planted just a fingernail length in the soil. Add some water into the reservoir area. You can also buy a plant starter — this plant is already alive and growing, you just have to keep it healthy.

Step 5) Once all these steps are complete, water the plant once from the top — after that, the plant will get all the water it needs from the water reservoir.

Originally published in The Lance, Windsor.