Build a Self-Watering Container | Bedford Hills Real Estate

These containers make it easy to grow vegetables in pots. They are  ideal for apartment gardening, but are so useful that everyone should consider  using them to maximize their growing space.

The problem with growing food in pots is that pots dry out quickly and it’s  all too easy to forget to water. Irregular watering causes all sorts of problems  for sensitive fruits and vegetables. Container gardening is also  water-intensive. During a heat wave it may mean visiting the plants with the  watering can two or even three times every day — obviously not a practical  scheme for someone who works away from home, or someone with any kind of life at  all.

An elegant solution exists in the form of self-watering containers. Rather  than having a hole in the bottom of the pot, a self-watering container (SWC) has  a reservoir of water at the bottom, and water leaches upward into the soil by  various mechanisms, keeping it constantly moist. The top of the pot is covered  with a layer of plastic that discourages evaporation. Depending on how deep the  water reservoir is, it’s possible to go about a week between fill-ups. This  arrangement, combined with the plastic layer, prevents both over-watering and  under-watering that can occur with conventional pots. In other words, it takes  the guesswork and anxiety out of watering.

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