Plants

can't remember to water the plants?
going on vacation?
which is my case ok both cases

so basicly knowing my family was going on vacation
I knew my husband would have another porch garden
My mom lives in an apartment below us
and is no spring chicken and not good around stairs
then you ask a friend
oh they say they will until the time comes
then oh wait was that this week no can't do it
so I started looking on the internet on this watering problem
after hours of looking
found water systems for big bucks
then on this non-family site
(let's just say they Don't want people watering their plants)
I found this great idea

I figured I can't be alone with this problem
so I would share in a much friendlier place

Depending on the plant size of course
Items you will need
wood craft stick,end of a fork
water bottle
white shoe strings or strips of white cotton
drill or nail (to poke hole in cap)
and last of all
a plant

poke hole in the cap
just big enough for the shoe string to slide through
fit cap on bottle
to make sure string hits bottom of bottle
remove cap
fill bottle to top with room tempature water
(I read somewhere plants grow better with room tempture water)
It seems to work for me
now soak cap with shoe string in water
It has to be wet!
take your craft stick or fork
slide down the inside of flower pot to make a slot
then take the string and run it down the slot
use stick or fork to push string down to bottom if needed
now water your plant as you normaly would
(this activates the string watering system)
TIP: water must be a bit lower then plant or water will be all over
see photos below


this is my first try at this little science project
man did my husband laugh at this
I put some soil in a little pot added some chive seeds
added string system
water ended up all over the floor
inverted second pot
and of and growing
this 16.9 oz bottle lasts about 10 days





The little one work so I thought
hmmm let's try bigger so I grabbed some herb seeds
and a large herb garden pot
18 inches wide by 4 inches deep
this one I put in a layer of soil
I used 3 long shoe strings
layed them accross the soil in a pie cutting formation
(I added the string on top so I knew where each section was)
put an other layer of soil
added seeds
each herb has own section
I used a gallon jug for this one which last about 8 or 9 days
(this was really just a test thing to see if it worked on something bigger) you can easily slide the strings out when you come home
oh yeah let's just say hubby isn't laughing anymore