Our Automatic Watering System

We haven’t had water down in the garden club since our move down to the bottom of the field. In the winter it was fine but now that it’s spring and hotter days are happening, we need to come up with a system to water our seedlings.

Whaea Clare read about OLLA water system. This system has been used for centuries, mostly in hot climates like Central America, Africa and the Mediterranean. It uses terracotta pots which are filled with water and buried in the garden. The water slowly seeps out over time, going directly to the roots under the ground and avoiding the evaporation that would occur if it was sitting on the soils surface. Over time the roots find their way to the pots as well – it’s fascinating watching them gradually seeking out the source of the water.

Another beauty of this system is its simplicity. All we had to do was to get a large terracotta pot with a lid (we got one from Bunnings). Then we filled the hole in the bottom of the pot with the blu tak, dug a hole big enough for the pot in the centre of the garden bed, placed the pot so that the top was just above soil level, then filled it with water. We then put the lid on top of the pot and that was that! Our plants will be watered through the week while we are away from the gardens.

If you want to know more here is a great link:

https://lovelygreens.com/how-to-make-diy-ollas-low-tech-self-watering-systems-for-plants/