Self-Watering Containers

Two weeks ago I helped Kasey teach an enrichment mini-class on how to make self-watering containers for gardening. It was a fun learning experience, and the first time many women in my ward had ever used a power tool.
After the class, Kasey scored several more buckets from Sam's Club for FREE, so yesterday Jerushia came over and we assembled 8 more self-watering containers.
These are ideal for anyone who lives in an apartment or condo and doesn't have space for a "real" vegetable garden. They're also great for people who travel or don't have a green thumb and want to avoid the hassle of remembering to water and care for their vegetables more than once every few weeks. I made 6 of them, just so I can have more space in my garden beds this year. I want to attempt to can dill pickles this year, so I'm going to need a lot of space in the beds for the cucumbers.

Here's how to make you're own:
Of course...as demonstrated by little miss Ella, only the most strict of all Safety Guidelines were followed here at the Willy House during this project:
You will need:
2 5-gallon buckets (a little shout out of thanks to the Wal-Mart and Sam's Club bakeries. We just asked and they gave us the buckets and lids for free! I have to say, I'd rather have a bucket of buttercream frosting or shortening than soil and tomatoes. Anyway, ask around, most restaurants and wholesale clubs are happy to give their buckets away.)
1 lid
1 1/2-2 ft of nylon rope (cotton will rot by the end of the growing season. I actually braided a few pairs of old nylons to use for 2 of mine. We'll see how it works!)
2 ft of 1 inch PVC pipe (Kasey also scored some of this for free from Home Depot. If it's already cut, they'll give it away)
1 inch cap to fit on your PVC pipe.

These tools:
Electric Drill 
Jigsaw 
1 inch paddle drill bit
1/2 inch paddle drill bit
1/8 inch drill bit
something to cut your PVC pipe (or they'll cut it at Lowe's for you if you ask, and you have your measurements already) like a hack saw or a chop saw.

Turn your buckets upside down. One will be your inside bucket and one will be your outside bucket. In the bottom of your inside bucket, drill several 1/8 inch holes (for air flow and drainage), a 1/2 inch hole in the center for the rope, and a 1 inch hole near the edge for the pipe to pass through. It should look like this when you're done.
Jerushia, my lovely assistant, you did a fabulous job! This photo can be your proof to Dan that you did your own buckets.

Stack the inside bucket inside the outside bucket and turn them on their side. Drill a 1/8 inch hole in the side of the outside bucket. This hole should be about 1/4 inch BELOW the bottom of where the inside bucket sits. This hole will act as an overflow drain so you can't over fill the water reservoir (bottom bucket) with water and drown your plant.

Now put the lid on your inside bucket (the top bucket).
Drill a 1 inch hole near the edge of the lid (for the pipe) and a 1/2 inch hole in the center so you have a hole started for your jigsaw.

Jig a hole about 4 inches wide to allow a place for your plant to sit.
Cut your pipe so it will be long enough to reach all the way to the bottom of the outside bucket, and stick out the top of the lid with a few extra inches. You want the part of the pipe that will be in the water to be cut on a 45* angle, so the water can run out easily. Put the pipe in the bucket, then the lid on the pipe. Place a cap over the top of the pipe to prevent mosquitoes from making a home in your water reservoir.
tie a knot in your rope and place it in the hole so the knot is sitting at the bottom of the inside bucket, and there is a "tail" hanging below to the bottom of the outside bucket. This will act as a wick and carry water up from the water reservoir into your soil.
The best thing to put in the buckets is potting mix, because there is vermiculite in it to keep the potted soil from becoming too dense or too moist. Since potting mix is $8 a bag, I made my own using the soil from our garden beds. (Don't worry MOM, I used a wheelbarrow. No more lifting 40 lb bags for this prig lady.  But in my defense I've been so sick for so long that it feels nice to just be outside in the dirt.) Our beds have a mixture of compost, peat moss, horse manure, straw, fireplace ashes, topsoil, bagged manure, and peat compost. I just added 1/2 a bag of Pearlite ($4.44 at WM) vermiculite to the soil and mixed it in a wheelbarrow to fill the buckets and hope it will work.

Here's the finished result:
A not-so-beautiful garden made from recycled products. The nice thing about these buckets is that you can move them inside during the frost. I was at my friend Sherry's house the day after Thanksgiving, last year, and she still had big Roma tomatoes on the vine! That's what I'm talking about baby.

I planted 2 zucchini plants, 2 big boy tomato plants, and 2 bell pepper plants.
Any bets on which one I manage to kill first?