Keep that plastic bottle!

Before you hound me for using a plastic bottle to drink out of, there are times when there is only a plastic bottle of water available – I am sure it has happened to you too! So what can you do with your old plastic bottles rather than recycling it in the blue bin?

Many of us are trying to grow food and for those without a garden this can be a real challenge. So here is an idea.

Bottle planter:

You need one large plastic bottle and three or four small plastic bottles (you will see that I have used three bottles, but four bottles might give more balance).

2 household sponges

METHOD: Stand the bottle up and evenly draw four bottle top sized circles evenly around the large bottle. Check that the bottles clear the ground by about 3 inches/6cm. See my photos. Then cut out the circles carefully (the bottles should fit in the holes tightly).

For each bottle, cut a segment out which will be where the earth will go for planting. Hot glue gun the four bottles (without the lids) into position. Again look at my photos.

Using the household sponges, cut in half longways so that you have four pieces. Now cut longways to almost cut in half, so that when you open each piece out it is now twice the length. The idea is to place the sponge along the base of each small bottle and then into the hole into the large bottle – this will be used for capillary action watering. But let us continue.

Fill each small bottle with soil and plant your seeds. You are aiming to produce micro-veg where you cut off the tops of the leaves and use in salads, so plant as many or as few seeds as you like. I usually plant 10-15 seeds per bottle.

Making sure that the sponges that have been pushed into the large bottle are touching the bottom, fill some water into the large bottle to about 3 inches/6cm. Place the bottle plant system on a table or wide windowsill or any convenient location with not too much sun and wait for the results. Always check that the sponges have not dried out as this is when you need to add more water.