The above video, on how to build a self-watering container (this type is also known as a Global Buckets), seems extremely useful for the urban gardener, especially in Memphis where even gardening in the ground is difficult because of the poor, loessic soil. I’ve found container gardening (in cat litter buckets) to be much more effective, even though evaporation is a major issue with our hot summers. So I very much like the idea of self-watering containers.
These containers may also be an excellent complement to our greenhouse, because we can avoid having to water every day. If we got the right containers, or decorated them nicely enough, we might be able to sell these with our vegetables at the end-of-year plant sale.
The related videos on YouTube have a variety of other self-watering container variants. This version, with water jugs and a single large tub, also seems like it might be effective. There are also nice instructional video on how siphons work, as an easier way of watering a series of buckets. The Global Buckets project is a fascinating effort to help reduce malnutrition with simple materials.
Hello. We’re the two brothers that created the Global Buckets website. We just wanted to let you know that we both attended Jarrow Montessori in Boulder Colorado for nine years. Montessori is great.
Wonderful to hear from you. From the Global Buckets website, it seems that your focus is on malnutrition in developing countries. I was planning on offering this as one possibility for my students’ citizenship projects this year, but for use in some of the poorer areas in Memphis. I suspect the fact that you guys came out of Montessori will provide an extra little bit of inspiration.