Do-It-Yourself Self-Watering Hanging Planters

Part of having a container garden is regular watering. Containers can hold less water than soil and dry out more quickly. Instead of watering every day, you can build a self-watering basket, even with a hanging container. Self-watering containers wick water from a lower reservoir whenever the soil is dry. This takes the guesswork out of watering. Water-soluble fertilizer can be added to the reservoir at regular intervals as well, cutting down your work even further.

2 nesting plastic containers
Drill
Wire
Pliers
Shot glass
Cotton fabric
Potting soil
Seedling

Instructions

- 1
  Drill 2 holes, 1 on each side of a plastic container. Thread wire through the 2 holes to create a handle to hang the container from. Bend the wire with a pair of pliers to keep it from coming out of the holes.
- 2
  Place a shot glass at the bottom of the closed container. This will hold up the container on top so it doesn't sit in the water in the reservoir.
- 3
  Poke a hole through the bottom of your other plastic container.
- 4
  Cut a 1-inch-wide strip of cotton fabric. Thread it halfway through the hole at the bottom of the second plastic container.
- 5
  Fill up the container with the fabric with potting soil. Coil the cotton fabric through the soil.
- 6
  Plant your seedling. If transplanting it from another container, ensure it is planted at the same depth as in the previous planter.
- 7
  Fill the reservoir container to the top of the shot glass with water.
- 8
  Sit the container filled with soil into the container with the shot glass. Ensure the cotton fabric touches the water and begins to wick.
- 9
  Hang the basket.

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