Grow Your Own Magazine

hello all!

has anyone ever tried using self-watering containers or earthboxes? seen alot about then on the net and they seem like a great idea for my back garden (currently growing salad stuff and carrots in containers) but do they work???

Carly x

Hi Carly, I used some self-watering tubs from Lidl last year to grow courgettes in & they worked O.K.They had a reservoir in the bottom & a gauge at the side to check the water level. You still have to keep checking them though & remember to top them up & I did notice a bit of a problem towards the end of the season in that it rained a lot & they got a bit waterlogged but the courgettes were almost over by then anyway.

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Into every life a little rain must fall.

Have a couple of plastic hanging baskets which I use for trailing toms in the greenhouse. They have a reservoir section in the bottom with a plastic lid and capilliary matting on top, the idea being that the bit of matting trailing into the reservoir keeps the plants watered. They also have a plastic tube from above soil level into the reservoir to aid watering. They're not very pretty, being plastic, and don't last all week in my greenhouse but I do find them pretty convenient and have been using them about 8 years now. Think they came from Wilkos in the sale so didn't cost very much.

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Some of us live in the past, always talking about back then. Some of us live in the future, always planning what we are going to do. And, then there are those, who neither look behind or ahead, but just enjoy the moment of right now.

Which one are you and is it how you want to be?