RECYCLED SELF-WATERING POTS FOR THE NOT-SO-GREEN-THUMBS

Everyone can have a green thumb with these self watering planters made from recycled soda bottles. Get creative, paint and decorate them. Want larger? Use clear gallon water jugs instead.

Want an innovative way to recycle your empty soda bottles or those clear plastic water jugs? Have a garden, you want to start seeds indoors for? Perhaps you want more flowers around the house? Need to repot that small plant but dont have the extra cash to buy another pot? In these busy times it is difficult for most people to keep houseplants anymore. You forget to water and take care of them so they dry out, wilt and die... If this is you read on because, even if you have a black thumb you can have beautiful plants by using recycled soda bottles to make self watering pots.

Things You'll Need:

• sharp pointed knife
• Scissors
• 1 x 6 inch strip of cotton blend fabric or 6 inch piece of cotton or jute rope. (jute works best)
• Potting soil
• seeds or plants

1. Peel the label off of the bottle. you can use alcohol to help remove any extra traces of the label. For myself I dont care if a remnant of the label still exists, I leave it there and instead  I  just turn the bottle so it is towards the back where no one can see it.
2. Cut the bottle more towards the top than the bottom, you want to leave enough room in the bottom for a water reservoir.
3. With a sharp knife you will cut into the bottle about 2/3 up from the bottom. Finish cutting all the way around the bottle with the scissors. Using the scissors you will then trim all the way around the bottle to get a smooth edge.
4. You may need to tie a couple of knots one around the other to get it large enough to stay in the planter top.
5. Remove the cap from bottle. Take your strip of cotton material or rope and tie a not in one end. thread the dangling end of rope or cotton thru the opening in the top of the bottle from the inside out. pull all the way thru till the knot rests in the neck of the bottle. This will be your planter portion of the pot. 
6. This shows how it should look when you put the two together. The weight of the soil in the planter will keep the top piece in place.
7. Place the top of the bottle upside down into the bottom of the bottle so that the wick you just made at least touches the bottom of your base.

You can plant any kind of plant into your self watering planters, even Cacti! With Cacti you simply water less and less often. Starting seeds indoors or growing herbs is simple with recycled planters
fill top part of the bottle with your potting mix, add seeds or new plant and place it into the piece you just made. The bottom part of the bottle will become your water resivoir and the top portion is now your planter.