SIP-Sub Irrigated Planter Buckets

Sub Irrigated or Self watering planters have a reservoir in the bottom to hold water. The planter consists of two recycled 5 gallon buckets, drilled for a wick cup, aeration, drainage and a watering pipe. Most planters just have a hole in the bottom for drainage but in an effort to conserve every drop of precious water, these planters offer a viable solution to water conservation.

Potting soil is suspended above a water reservoir by means of a perforated barrier. Circular "wicking chambers" reach down into the reservoir and draw water up into the plant's roots. The reservoir is refilled by means of a pipe that comes out the top of the pot and the soil in the pot is covered with a layer of plastic that acts as mulch. Depending on how deep the reservoir is, it's possible to go many days without having to add water. This arrangement, combined with the cover on the top and the overflow drainage hole, prevent wasteful overwatering that can occur with conventional pots.

I hope to be able to hook up a drip line from my rain barrels to water each reservoir. I have planted heirloom yellow pear, heirloom pink brandywine, ruger and cherry tomatoes. They are on the east side of the house to avoid the hot afternoon sun.

Different design for hoop house

Since my little hoop house had done so well during the winter and summer, I decided to change up the pvc hoops and build a square frame around the sandbox. I wanted to put a better shade/plastic system up that would be able to be more secured in high winds. As I started working, I decided to go a little higher on the frame and before you know it, I had started on a small pvc greenhouse! Later I added some more pvc for the roof. I ended up putting chicken wire around the base to keep the cats out, who liked to sleep in there at night! I got 28 gallon totes I found a rummage sale to plant my veggies in for sub irrigated planters.

I was hoping to save water and also avoid the mesquite tree roots that had invaded the sandbox!

Small hoop house

I decided I needed another garden, so I took over my son's sandbox. Since he is a teen now and doesn't use his sandbox, the area was up for grabs. I put two hoops made of pvc to put plastic on to hold in moisture for new seedlings. This also kept out the wild birds and our cats that wanted to use the sandbox as their litterbox. I installed a small dripline and covered the ground with straw. This worked better than expected until the winds picked up. It was tough trying to secure the plastic down and the plants would dry out. Some even rotted after drying out, then upon getting the plastic back on, got slimy on the dead leaf parts.

I had planned on replacing the plastic with a shade cloth during the summer, but the plants dried out too much and if left with some ventilation on the bottom, the squash did pretty good. The soil was amended but contained more sand than my other garden and consumed alot of water. The winter garden did better. It produced quite a bit of turnip greens, onions, carrots and lettuce in the small area ( 6 feet by 6 feet).

Traditional Garden

Here is my small traditional garden (6 feet x 8 feet) with a drip line. It eats up LOTS of water and needs shade in our summer. Never had a lot of success with it unless it rained alot (which is rare here). I always added better commercial compost and soil each year but always seemed to have bugs eat it. I decided last year to add aged compost from chicken, goat and steer manure plus some earthworm castings, gypsum and bone meal and covered it with straw and tree shavings mulch. WOW! I had a bonanza of veggies but also a HUGE water bill each month. Usually we get rain in July but the past couple of years it has been dry and real hot. I lost most of this garden when I left on vacation and the caretakers forgot to water it :(