Less is More

The following was designed by Bob Hyland at his wonderful website Inside Urban Green.

Required Tools: All you need is a hot tool to poke holes in the plastic containers (milk jugs, juice bottles, nursery flats, etc) and a hot knife to cut a slot in the bottom side of the bottle(s) to allow free flow of water. There is no need for power tools, PVC tubing and complicated fabrication. For larger images, click on the pictures.

Recycled plastics (food containers, nursery flats) create the soil platform, soil wicks and water reservoir. Five milk containers are used here (about 2 1/2 gallon reservoir capacity). Cut large slots on the bottom side of the containers to allow water entry and poke holes in the top side for aeration and drainage of any excess water. An overflow drain hole (top center) prevents over watering. Recycled water bottles create a fill tube.

Potting mix (NO top soil) packed down between the recycled plastics creates the soil wicking system. The water from the reservoirs will rise by capillary action creating a uniform distribution of water throughout the bucket. Simply pour water down the fill tube until you see some water exit the overflow drain hole (top center).

The tote box lid with the center cut out makes a retainer for a sheet plastic mulch cover (not shown). Recycle the soil mix bag, black side up. This prevents weed growth and water evaporation.

One question about this system is the durability of the milk containers and the inverted nursery trays. How will they stand up through a growing season?

The designer, Mr. Hyland, requests that if you do try this design to please send feedback on your results. Once again, his website is Inside Urban Green.

Here are some other pictures from Mr. Hyland using the same concept:

To make the fill tube, simply cut off the bottoms of plastic water or Coke bottles with a box cutter and stack them for any length fill tube.

Experimental Design : Water Bottle

Curt Lindley, a Peace Corp worker in Mandeville, Jamaica, just sent us pictures of a one-bucket design that he's developed.
1) Cut the top off of a water bottle (we'll call it the "top")
2) drill a a number of holes into the top
3) cut a hole into the top for a watering tube
4) attach (with duct tape?) an absorbent acrylic fabric over the top's opening (the yellow fabric in the photo)
5)Turn the top upside down and place it into the bucket
6) fill with potting mix

Below are some pictures Curt sent us. Curt (in the black T-shirt) and some fellow Peace Corps volunteers are at a school in Jamaica making 30 "buckets" in one day in May 2010. Click on the pictures for a larger image.

Experimental Design : Gravel

Gravel with Screen
A reader, Pete Sims, has a clever idea for a one-bucket design. We've asked Pete to send us some pictures of his setup. If you've used a similar design please let us know and we'll post your ideas. Pete writes...

1) Make a mark on the inside of the bucket all the way around at 12" from the top

2) Place a tin can with holes punched into it and place it in the center of the bucket

3) Make sure that you have your input water hole/line and your exit water hole/line installed (if you are connecting in series), before you go to the next step

4) Fill the bottom of the bucket with gravel that is maybe 3/4 to 1 inch in size all the way up to the mark on the bucket

5) Get a piece of screen or material that will let water through and place it over the gravel with a cut out for the tin can

6) Now you can fill the bucket with potting mix and plant the same as usual.

You can easily adjust your water level by either raising or lowering the float valve or the bucket. This method as you can see utilizes one less bucket and at the same time uses a product that is found worldwide, gravel!