Our Self-Watering Storage Bin Garden
by Colleen Vanderlinden • August 6, 2009 • Miscellaneous • 3 Comments
Back when I posted about our tomatoes, I showed a photo of our self-watering tomato planter that we made from a plastic storage bin. I promised at the time that I would share how we made it, but I ended up writing about the process over at Planet Green. Rather than double-posting, please go on over there and take a look if you’re interested in seeing how we made it. I’ll wait.
OK. Did you read it? Did you vote, saying that it was a helpful article? Thanks, you’re a sweetheart. Now that you’ve seen how we made it, let’s talk about how well it’s working out for us.
First off, “self-watering” is a misnomer. We water the self-watering container almost as often as we water the rest of the garden. It’s just a little less likely to dry out if we don’t get a chance to get out there and water. We’ve been dealing with some Septoria in our raised beds, and it was nice that we didn’t have to worry about it on the two tomatoes in the container.
The biggest convenience to having one of these containers has been that we can take advantage of our spotty sunlight situation. Most of our yard is dappled shade, so areas that get full sun are at a premium, and most of them already contain permanent vegetable beds. But, with our storage bin containers, we were able to take care of this sunny spot along the side of our garage. We’ll probably build at least one more next spring. After all, I’m running out of room for tomato plants 
So that’s the self-watering container, in a nutshell. If you make one, or if you already have one of your own, I’d love to hear your impressions of them.
I am glad it worked for you! I am also running out of space for my tomato plants. I use containers, but they dry out so fast!
Nice work on the Planet Green blog. I made one of these too but with a twist. I’ll blog about it later though. Because if there is one thing I am it is timely. :0)
I need an organizer or something.
Great design. I’ve been doing this for a few years with a slightly different design, but I like your concept better. Little thought went into my bins, it was more of a “let just recycle old seed flats and trays”. I would buy bins at the home store, and in the spring, take the empty mesh or plastic flats that 6 packs come in from the nursery, and simply flip them upside down, in the bottom of the bin, then, I would drill a drainage hole or two just where the flat stopped and the soil would begin, and then, fill the bin with a good commercial potting mix that was sterile ( I use ProMix). I’m going to try your method next year, because it sounds more solid. Love your blog!