BLOG REPOST FROM 6/29/2009: HOW TO MAKE A SWP!

Since I demonstrated how to make a SWP (Self Watering Planter) over the weekend, I thought I would repost this post. Good info to know if you want to grow some of your own food and don't have room for a garden! A few have commented on my SWP's, and a few more have sent me emails askinf how I make them. Well luckily I had one more Pepper to transplant so I needed to make one. The actual idea comes from Gary Ibsen's Tomatofest website, where they are called EarthTainers™. He and his friend Ray,(the original inventor of the EarthTainer™) ask that if you use their design that you simply make a donation to Feed the Children. Since I basically use the same directions- no problem. I just wanted a free or cheaper way of making the SWP's instead of buying roughneck totes to make them. Cheap Veggie Gardner should appreciate this stinginess thriftiness.
Anyway if you don't want to look at the videos, here is how I make SWP's
First I get 2 buckets in this case a 5 gallon and a 3 gallon bucket. You can get these from restaurant type places- just ask! (Thanks Wah Kue Café!)

Then in one bucket cut a hole big enough for a plastic planter or a tomato can to fit in this case I am using a galvanized steel planter I had laying around. If you have access to hole saws this is easy. Or use a jig saw. A jab saw or drywall saw will work as well, This time I used a jigsaw.

Then make a hole towards the side of the same bucket big enough to fit a piece of PVC Tubing through.

Then drill some holes in your tomato can or planter.

Most buckets will fit together leaving about 2" of room between the two buckets- I don't have to worry here as I am using a 3 gallon and a 5 gallon This is good as the bucket will have some room between the upper bucket –or planter and the 2nd bucket or “reservoir”. If it doesn’t HAve this lip or the top bucket goes all the way down simply insert a brick or a couple of rocks in the bottom bucket to raise the top bucket.

That done, drill a hole in the bottom bucket, taking note where the top bucket’s bottom is. Drill the hole just below the bottom of the top bucket. Put the PVC tubing in the hole you made for it.

. . Now fill it with about two cups of soil into your tomato can/planter, fill with water.
Fill the rest of the top bucket with soil and make sure to water a bit between layers of soil or compost. Until it is full and wet. Some times I rip up old t-shirts and make a “wick” throughout the planter. But I have seen no evidence yet in the planters I have done this to that it is any better than letting the soil “wick” the planters. Then plant your plant or seeds in it. When watering fill the bottom bucket through the PVC tube until water comes out the drain hole you drilled. You now have a Self watering planter! Very nice if your forget for a day to water or you go out of town for a weekend. Saves on water as well. If you like you can cut the lid to the bucket, leaving only a ring, then take a garbage bag or you can use a plastic shopping bag put over the bucket and snap your ring on- works as a mulch cover!

More fun with SWP's

Beets planted in my new SWP.

You know how much I love making different SWP/SIP Planters. My favorite is the one where I take the top off a 5 gallon water bucket in place of a second bucket. But that leads me to ponder… What to do with the bottom part I cut off.

They make most excellent buckets to hold water ( I use one to catch my warm up water in the shower) and when weeding the garden. But I figured out a new way to use them… make a second SWP. Totally by accident, I found that the Five gallon water bucket does not fit all the way into the outer bucket. Soooo that means I could saw a hole in the bottom of the water bucket to fit a strainer basket or seedling pot with holes in it (or you can use a yogurt container or a small can). And with some shifty planning and drilling I can shove the water pipe down the handle to fill the reservoir.

The other thing one could do with it is turn it upside down to make an ad hoc green house or cloche for the fall and winter to keep plants warm!

Farmer's Daughter Homesteading Link Up

I used strips of T-Shirt from my latest shopping bag experiment as water wicks. Very little gets wasted around here!

RE-POST: SWP's 2.0

This week I am re-posting my favorite way to make self watering or SIP's- Self Irrigating Planters!

Perusing the global buckets webpage, I saw an idea to make one out of 1 bucket and the top from a 5 gallon water bottle. So I had to to try one.

Take an ordinary water bucket-cut the top, drill a bunch of holes, put a rage over the pour spout, make sure to drill or cut a hole for a 1" or larger piece of tubing to go into - this is how you are going to add water to your planter!


Shove it in the 5 gallon bucket- pour side to the bottom

Fill with water up to the pour spout, fill with dirt and plant! I put a cayenne pepper in this one- now it goes into the green house for warmth!
Note- You may want to add a few "overflow" holes in the bucket... just put them beneath the level of the water bucket top (where you cut it off), and above the spout! Save the bottom of the water bottle for a bucket, or re-use as a planter!

My name is Rob, and I am a food container recycling addict

LOL Reading Inside Urban Green yesterday, I found a post that read Yes, There is a cure for Food Container Recycling addiction. I have been spotted around town fishing used coffee cups out of the trash, as well as Big Gulp containers. I have no shame.
My name is Rob, and I am a food container recycling addict -

No That is not Rob- I am not that young, good looking, slim and I do not "play with my junk" as much as this guy!

Maybe after reading it I will attack some of the mountains of Food Containers around this house. See- all it needs is a 12 step program!

Improving SIP's

Very exciting- A few years ago there was almost no news on SIP's- now people are coming up with improvements seems like every day. Larry Hall is one of those folks- he came up with a watering method that doesn't use a bucket, (Saving more buckets for growing!) The cool thing about this design is I could see using it straight from one of my rain barrels to the gutter for irrigating. And since I will probably replace the plastic rain gutters on the garage this year, gives me an idea what to do with the old plastic rain gutters!

Here is what you need to build Larry Hall's self filling Rain Gutter Grow System! 
2- 10 ft treated 2x4's
1- 10 ft rain gutter and 2 end caps.
a mini float valve to regulate water
3 inch net cups (they are cheap!)
roofing screws

Read More on Larry's Rain Gutter system at INSIDE URBAN GREEN.com

2 Litre Sub Irrigated Planters

My friends over at Green Roof Growers came up with a way to make SIP's out of a 2 litre pop bottle- big enough for a lettuce plant or a small cherry tomato- and they shared this knowledge with a group of school kids!

TEDx MANHATTAN: HOW TO CULTIVATE A LOGO

Found this on Green Roof Growers- Best information video on making SIP's I have seen! Enjoy and Grow~
TEDxManhattan: How to Cultivate a Logo from Sybil Dessau on Vimeo.

Links:
Slippery Slope Farm 
Inside Urban Green
Real Food Campaign

Bucket Garden 2.0

This is one of those round TUIT posts. I finally got around to one of those nagging projects. My Bucket Garden 2.0! I already use those pickle buckets and such for Self Watering Planters, but I wanted to have a better way to look at them, especially in the front yard! Very easy actually, I pounded in posts at the corners and the end of the boards, then just screwed on the 1" X 6" X6' cedar fencing boards, and put the buckets behind it. When filled with dirt and growing plants, my guess is you won't even see the buckets at all! Or maybe I will just put some mulch on the lids to hide my lazy ass ways.

BUCKET BROTHERS DO IT AGAIN!!!

Photo Courtesy Global Buckets.org

Those two great guys, Grant and Max, Whom I like to call the "Bucket Brothers" have come up with another great idea. You have read here about there SIP's (Self Irrigating Planters) a pattern I generously steal and teach, but now they are taking those reusable shopping bags and using them as grow bags. These two come up with some of the best ideas. If they had a facebook page, I would definetly be a "fan". Anyway take a trip over to the Global Buckets website and read more about their cheap "Grow Bags" solution.

Bucket Garden Cost Rundown

Never known as one not to beat a dead horse, more on the Kitty Litter Buckets
Here is the Cost Rundown for my bucket garden from yesterday.

1. 12 Kitty litter Buckets- Free from Free Cycle............$0.00
2. 12 Empty pop/water bottles- Free from garbage.......$0.00
3. 10 Feet of 1/4" Vinyl Tubing from Lowes................$2.98
4. 1 large piece of furniture cardboard from dumpster...$0.00

the joys of freecycle and dumpster diving TOTAL= $2.98

Pretty cheap! The point is anyone can make a great garden for almost no money. All you need is a tad bit of space to put it somewhere sunny, and give it a bit of water!
Once again if you have access to a roof top, a balcony or patio with sun, you can have a garden! It takes less than 16 square feet (2'X8') to put one in. And the best thing is it is portable- you can take your garden with you.

Mr. Bigglesworth's Kitty Litter Bucket Garden Bed

Okay here it is... with all of it's scientific genious... Ladies and Gentlemen... May I present the "Mr. Bigglesworth's Kitty Litter Bucket Garden Bed"

Okay first the name... Named after the kitty whose bathroom habits resulted in his owner donating the buckets on freecycle. I figured the cat's name was Mr. Bigglesworth, not that the gal who gave me the buckets is in anyway Frau Farbissina or related to Dr. Evil in any manner. Now for the facts:
1- each bucket is home to a tomato or cucumber. There is another option of this bed in the green house where my hot peppers are roosting.
2- The ease of each bucket as opposed to actually digging a bed for the plants. Each bucket holds approximately 1/2 cubic feet of soil/compost/potting soil. So it doesn't get very heavy, making moving it around a breeze.
3- The lid from the litter bucket acts as the buckets "personal mulch" and also the irrigation device that waters the plant.And since it acts as mulch...no weeds. The Bottle fitted in allows it to water the plant. An option to this would be to cut up black garbage bags and put them on the buckets using the lids "rings" (the lids with the center cut out leaving only the ring to snap onto the bucket) as a mulch. I fitted some tubing from the bottle to the dirt to act as a soaker hose.
4- A Big piece of cardboard as a weed block. Don't do this if you don't want your grass to die.
The real advantage of this was getting space for garden without a actually doing any work. LOL

How to make the lid Watering device:

1 Take the lid from the bucket. Notice it is marked with a 3" hole. Cut the whole.
(Use either a hole saw or a jigsaw- I used the jig saw)

Cut the hole for the pop or water bottle to set in.

I found that using a 7/8" Hole saw work best, but I am guessing a spade bit or a "step bit" would work as well. When the hole is cut, ream out with a knife until a plastic pop bottle neck with threads fits in. Then take the cap and screw on the bottle from the bottom of the lid.
Drill a hole in the bottle cap just a tad under what ever size vinyl tubing you use to water the plant with.(I used 1/4" tubing) Then insert the tubing through the bottle cap, approximately 3/4 " the way up.

Now comes the tricky part...

Poke some holes in the tubing using a screw. Careful not to poke all the way through the tubing. And stick the screw in the open end of the tubing to plug it.
Or do my plan b- Use the same amount of tubing and stick the end in the planter right buy the roots of the plant. I find this works just as well, the bottle empties out a tad faster but we don't care so much how fast it empties.
ROB'S PS- I have discovered that just sticking it in the dirt (the "plan B") works kind of like one of those there Aqua Globes you see on TV- So maybe that version is more like a SWP!
Attach the lid to the bucket and wait for the damn plant to grow. This isn't as scientific as a self watering planter, but hey it kept me busy for the better part of a day. And, if I am busy then I ain't getting in trouble.

SWP2.0

Perusing the global buckets webpage, I saw an idea to make one out of 1 bucket and the top from a 5 gallon water bottle. So I had to to try one.

Take an ordinary water bucket-cut the top, drill a bunch of holes, put a rage over the pour spout, make sure to drill or cut a hole for a 1" or larger piece of tubing to go into - this is how you are going to add water to your planter!


Shove it in the 5 gallon bucket- pour side to the bottom

Fill with water up to the pour spout, fill with dirt and plant! I put a cayenne pepper in this one- now it goes into the green house for warmth!
Note- You may want to add a few "overflow" holes in the bucket... just put them beneath the level of the water bucket top (where you cut it off), and above the spout! Save the bottom of the water bottle for a bucket, or re-use as a planter!

Grant and Max and the Global Buckets!

In there own words, how the global buckets work:

Remember the post I wrote a few days ago on teaching Kids to garden? Well how about the kids teaching old Rob a thing or two? And these two guys got it going on!

Grant and Max Buster are two high school students. They have taken the Self Watering Planter (SWP) to the next level. They even invented an automated watering system. And they had a vision and a purpose- Teach people how to grow food!And re-use materials doing it! Here is their story in their own words:

"It started when our dad bought an EarthBox® planter. We read in the sales materials that the United Nations was using Earthbox® planters to teach people in developing nations an excellent way to grow food. This sounded like a great project, but we thought it would make more sense using locally sourced free or low cost recycled materials. That's what got us started.Also, watering Global Buckets by hand become a BIG pain everyday so we explored ideas on how to automate the watering job using atmospheric pressure. Our system works great! This entire summer we only spent about 20 minutes dealing with water. Previously, we spent about 10 minutes a day. Using some engineering and physics to create wonderful efficiencies was the most rewarding part of the project."

Visit their site to see whats new in the world of homemade SWP's. And here are some great vid's to look at, that explain their Global Buckets campaign. More proof you never are too old too learn new things. Even by those who are much younger.

How I make SWP's- Self watering Planters

A few have commented on my SWP's, and a few more have sent me emails askinf how I make them. Well luckily I had one more Pepper to transplant so I needed to make one. The actual idea comes from Gary Ibsen's Tomatofest website, where they are called EarthTainers™. He and his friend Ray,(the original inventor of the EarthTainer™) ask that if you use their design that you simply make a donation to Feed the Children. Since I basically use the same directions- no problem. I just wanted a free or cheaper way of making the SWP's instead of buying roughneck totes to make them. Cheap Veggie Gardner should appreciate this stinginess thriftiness.
Anyway if you don't want to look at the videos, here is how I make SWP's
First I get 2 buckets in this case a 5 gallon and a 3 gallon bucket. You can get these from restaurant type places- just ask! (Thanks Wah Kue Café!)

Then in one bucket cut a hole big enough for a plastic planter or a tomato can to fit in this case I am using a galvanized steel planter I had laying around. If you have access to hole saws this is easy. Or use a jig saw. A jab saw or drywall saw will work as well, This time I used a jigsaw.

Then make a hole towards the side of the same bucket big enough to fit a piece of PVC Tubing through.

Then drill some holes in your tomato can or planter.

Most buckets will fit together leaving about 2" of room between the two buckets- I don't have to worry here as I am using a 3 gallon and a 5 gallon This is good as the bucket will have some room between the upper bucket –or planter and the 2nd bucket or “reservoir”. If it doesn’t HAve this lip or the top bucket goes all the way down simply insert a brick or a couple of rocks in the bottom bucket to raise the top bucket.

That done, drill a hole in the bottom bucket, taking note where the top bucket’s bottom is. Drill the hole just below the bottom of the top bucket. Put the PVC tubing in the hole you made for it.

. . Now fill it with about two cups of soil into your tomato can/planter, fill with water.
Fill the rest of the top bucket with soil and make sure to water a bit between layers of soil or compost. Until it is full and wet. Some times I rip up old t-shirts and make a “wick” throughout the planter. But I have seen no evidence yet in the planters I have done this to that it is any better than letting the soil “wick” the planters. Then plant your plant or seeds in it. When watering fill the bottom bucket through the PVC tube until water comes out the drain hole you drilled. You now have a Self watering planter! Very nice if your forget for a day to water or you go out of town for a weekend. Saves on water as well. If you like you can cut the lid to the bucket, leaving only a ring, then take a garbage bag or you can use a plastic shopping bag put over the bucket and snap your ring on- works as a mulch cover!