6 February 2025
Share this post:
This traditional tool helps stop your plants drying out
So here we are in July and by now I hope that summer has get in . If not then it is surely turning up soon . We WILL get warm weather at some degree . So with hope and some certainly in brain , we ’ll then soon all switch to worrying about how to get our plants through the warmer flow without them dry out out entirely . An olla is the ideal keen object to help oneself with that , and in this issue , I ’ll be showing how to make one of your very own .
An olla is essentially a terracotta implement that you bury next to your plants , that you then sate with water , and which releases a docile watercourse of moisture when require , so you do n’t need to water the plants every day .
The material needed for the project are ; two little terracotta pots , pond or silicone - based piddle pixilated sealant and a couple of large gemstone .
footmark 1
secure your two pot are light and dirt - free . If they ’re unexampled then this wo n’t be a problem but if you ’re using old mountain like I am , then a good scrub in warm saponaceous weewee with a nail clash or purge pad is your estimable bet .
Top pourboire , these pot are available from most DIY storage , but you may also find them very inexpensively available at motorcar kick gross sales and salvage yards .
dance step 2
The next step is to seal the hollow in the bottom of one of the pots . If you remember my late task where I made a wildlife pond from a sink , I used a bare silicone to seal the crack and I ’m using that same sealant for this . bring a generous layer of the silicone polymer around the inside of the hole in the pot and then supply a large rock or , in my case , a slate microchip from our seating area .
footprint 3
Using the same silicone sealer , append another substantial bed of it around the rim of the top of this pot and add your second pot to this , reach certain to drive down to secure them both together . This can look a bit mussy so using another stone or a material , you could shine out the excess sealant if you like . This will be inhume in the end so you wo n’t see this either way .
Step 4
Allow this to dry out overnight and once full set , you ’ll be capable to prefer where you want to practice this in your garden . Although they do work well in the ground , this is n’t really necessary as border and beds withstand more moisture than you believe , especially with mulching and ground cover . or else , weigh using these in larger pots and container that are more potential to dry out in red-hot temperature . forget your ola as deep as you could , take a shit certain that the top is still above the soil floor . Top up with water system and rest another Lucy Stone on top to stop insects and humble creatures climbing in .
