Water System for Peace Demonstration Farm, Uganda

Self-watering planters are a great way to grow a single, healthy plant efficiently while conserving water and minimizing the growing space needed. They provide a constant supply of water so the plant does not get stressed by constantly fluctuating between dry and drenched. The cotton wick allows the plant to wrap its roots around it and use it as a straw, allowing the plant to absorb as much or as little water as it wants. As they are stand-alone planters, weeding is almost nonexistent, and the planters can stand independently- or many of them can be bunched together.

Plants we’ve grown successfully in them include strawberries, oregano, thyme, basil, tomatoes, sage, cucumbers, kiwano melons, and tarragon.

For our self-watering planters, we use 5 gallon (non-reusable) Rwenzori water bottles. We cut them in half just above the mid line. The top section is inverted with a long wick of cotton (we use t-Shirt fabric) extending from the top half to the bottom of the lower half then the two halves are combined. Soil is then poured into the top half and packed around the cotton wick, and a seedling is planted in the center. A hole is punched on the side of the bottom water receptacle even with or near the end of the inverted bottle spout. This allows excess water to drain out so the plant does not get water-logged. Fill the lower receptacle with water and WHALLAH! A self-watering planter.

We have these planters at the farm, teach villagers to make them, and I even have a few at my home. There are a few plants that do not like the planters. They are not effective for growing root crops, plants that grow very tall, or plants with a an extremely shallow root system.

All in all, self-watering planters are a great way to beat the hot African sun, conserve water, and have fresh herbs, berries, and veggies all year long.

Links:

• Grassroots Uganda FB page

I love shallots. They are the perfect mix of sweet onion flavor and garlicy tang.

Fortunately, they are also very easy to grow! All they need is some good dirt, a little bit of rain to start them off, and occasional weeding. So we grew shallots! I was amazed at how fast and easily they grew, and the amount of shallots we got in our final harvest. 

As only part of our farm has drip irrigation, and none of our partner farmers in the village do, it was very beneficial to grow a crop that produced a financial yield, yet did not require everyone to haul water for wattering. 

I see more shallots in our future!

Links:

• Facebook Page