Smart watering for containers

Steve and Val Bradley explain how to create a more efficient system to ensure that the roots of young plants in containers get all the water they need

- Steve and Val Bradley

GROWING plants in containers allow you to extend your garden onto hard-surface areas or lets you grow plants if you have no garden at all. However, keeping up with the watering can be difficult, especially with larger plants that need a regular supply in hot weather or if you are away for a few days.

Unlike plants in the ground, which can send new roots in search of water underground, those growing in containers are entirely dependent on you for their supply. Insufficient water shows as wilting in the early stages, but there is a ‘permanent wilting point’ beyond which they will not recover and you will at least need to prune off dead stems, if not lose the whole plant.

You can buy small self-watering containers, with a clear pipe leading to a reservoir in the base, or you can create something to meet your own requirements. Most containers are designed to provide good drainage, usually working on a formula that a 30cm-diameter pot needs a minimum 3cm-diameter drainage hole, or holes, in the base, but there is no set rule to say the drainage hole must be in the base of the container. Drilling drainage holes in the sides of a container, several centimeters up from the base, allows for a reservoir of water that can be drawn up by the plants as they need it. Stone ballast is added to the base of the pot to support the compost and the plant.

Using strips of capillary matting