Crafty creative ways to water your plants!
Watering cans and hosepipes are the backbone of any gardener’s watering kit, but there are plenty of other creative ways you can water your plants.
Here are some crafty ideas to help water your plants, both indoors and out, that the children can help you make!
Bottle sprinkler
This crafty watering technique is cheap, brilliant for lawns and flower beds and it can be a lot of fun too. You will need:
- 1 or 2 litre plastic drinks bottle
- Screw on hose attachment or strong adhesive tape
First take a large plastic drink bottle and remove the lid.
Pierce holes into the bottle and attach the hose to the bottle using a screw-on hose attachment or some strong waterproof tape.
Simply turn on the hose and watch as the water is sprayed in all directions!
For watering large beds, attach the bottle to the top of a stake, and the water will have a much greater reach.
Planted bottle with holes
This hack is great for watering plants that have thirsty roots - it's cheap and easy to make.
You will:
- A plastic bottle.
Take your bottle and pierce several holes in the bottom and lower middle of the bottle.
Then bury the bottle up to its neck as close to your thirsty plant as you can without damaging the roots.
Once the earth around it has been smoothed, you should only be able to see the rim of the bottle above ground and this is where water should be poured when watering.
The water will slowly seep out of the holes and water the roots directly.
Tissue paper
This simple trick is great if you are going away and won’t be able to water your indoor plants.
You will need:
- A glass or a similar container
- Tissue paper.
First fill the glass with water and place it next to your plant pot.
Take one end of the tissue paper and put it into the glass of water and lay the other end in the plant pot. Make sure the paper hasn’t broken in any places, and that it will stay in place while you are away.
The plant should be able to draw water through the tissue paper which should provide it with enough moisture while you are away.
Milk bottle watering can
The milk bottle watering can is a great alternative to buying one from a shop and works just as well!
You will need:
- Empty plastic milk bottle- make sure the bottle has been thoroughly cleaned out before use.
First make several holes in the lid of the milk bottle, then fill it up with water, screw the lid back on and you’re ready to go!
St John’s Centre top tip!
"A good system is with capillary matting. My hose was flooding the plants on a wet, cool day, so rather than remove the hose from the water so that I had to re-syphon it through each time, I’ve fitted a tap (in this case a cork). It still needs turning on and off depending on the weather, but it does stop the plants from drying out on these super-hot days!
To make sure the pots soak up the water they must sit flat on the evenly spread capillary matting."
Zoe's top tip for watering living walls!
We made a living wall, using a pallet. But if you have created a living wall you will know they can be a tricky to water. But we've come up with a solution!
With some leftover hosepipe, I drilled 2mm holes leaving a 1 inch gap in between each hole - along the whole of the hosepipe.
I then lay that over the top of the pallet, and crimped one end of the hosepipe shut with a washer clamp ( I got the pair online for £3).
I then clipped the open end of the hosepipe to the regulator and adjusted the settings to allow a fair amount of water to flow through (not to much, as you don't want to drown the plants.
After 20 minutes I turned it off and Hey Presto a cheap and effective irrigation system!
For more advice on watering your garden including our top tips, check out the "Effective Watering Blog"
