Kale if I know
Saturday July 21st 2012, 10:49 pm
Filed under: My Garden

So. I have these indoor tomato plants and they’re soaking up water two, even three times a day, all going into those rapidly growing wonderfully squirrel-free future BLTs. (Well, maybe something healthier than lettuce. Maybe avocado.)

What would you do to keep them hydrated if you were afraid of missing a moment when they needed it? If they dry, they die. If I were to put a pot in a bowl of water, the roots would drown.

And so, I found this; page two says a ripped piece of t-shirt going all the way down into a water jug and tucked three inches into the soil will keep them safe. Wouldn’t that make for a lovely decor: rags to the riches of a ripe homegrown tomato. Maybe I should plant some greens to go with to complete that sandwich idea.

Actually, just yesterday I was looking for a reason to keep or toss a few old Ts.

Well then. Should my plants be rednecked? Or blue collards? I guess whatever suits.


6 Comments so far
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Interesting concept. Good luck!

Comment by Channon 07.22.12 @ 4:37 am

Old tees here have been known to be cut into strips and crocheted into rugs. My miserable tomato plant on the patio has two, TWO tomatoes,with no indications of any more to come!

Comment by Sherry in Idaho 07.22.12 @ 7:03 am

It’s the handmade version of self-watering planters. Fabulous!

Comment by (formerly) no-blog-rachel 07.22.12 @ 8:08 am

It’s a little late for this, but if you have to repot the plants, mix moisture-retention crystals into the dirt. They soak up water and expand hugely, and then give off the water gradually. So you could do a lot of watering at once and then not need to for a while.

In the case of outdoors plants, they’re good at soaking up excess rain water.

Comment by ruth 07.22.12 @ 8:22 am

Wow! Another use for old T-shirts. What a wicked idea!

Comment by Don Meyer 07.22.12 @ 9:56 am

I bet they can handle damp roots. You could set them in a basin of 1-2 cm of water – by midafternoon it would be gone but the soil wouldn’t dry till the next day.

You might play with the height of your water jug if you go the T-shirt route. I’m not sure if capillary action would pull enough water from far below the plants.

I picked the first cherry tomato from the in the ground plants today!

Comment by twinsetellen 07.22.12 @ 5:20 pm



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