This Ancient Watering Method Hydrates Your Garden With Just One Pot That Costs Almost Nothing
In a given moment, it doesn’t matter whether a river flows southwards or northwards as long as its wild currents are held within the boundary of its banks. In case the boundary is cracked or fractured, the current will become uncontrolled and burst right into the mouth of cities, forests, and villages, drowning the world in its inundating deluge. That’s why it’s important to give water the right direction of flow. The same lesson can be applied to gardening.
It isn’t enough to water your plants. Monitoring whether the water has the right flow is just as important. Incorrect flow or unintelligent distribution of water can cause your flowers to become either too thirsty or too soused. In a TikTok video, gardener Dagny Kream (@thecottagepeach) shared an ancient watering technique that works like a genius “Minecraft hack” that saves you a lot of water while keeping your plants well hydrated. It’s “kinda like magic.”
Water the entire garden with just one pot
The video opened with Kream standing in front of a blue house, punctuated by garden beds and occasional chirps of birds. “We are going to water our entire garden with a $5 pot,” Kream told the viewers. Flashing a brown terracotta planter on the camera, she explained, “This terracotta pot is porous, so water can come out of the sides pretty easily.” She brought the planter closer to the camera, revealing a hole she taped at its interior base. “I’ve covered the hole in the middle with a special moldable glue.” A frame in the footage showed that she also drizzled some rocks in the pot to give bees a place to rest and relax when they arrive.
In the next frame, Kream’s tattooed arm popped up as she slipped the terracotta planter through a dense cluster of leaves and positioned it on the garden bed. “If we bury it in the garden, as the soil dries out, it’s going to pull moisture from the inside of the pot to the outside. An 8-inch pot like this can water up to 2 feet away on all sides. And it only needs to be filled every 2 to 5 days, depending on your climate,” she said while pouring water into the planter from a garden sprinkler.
Adding to the advantage of the method, she said, “Plus, it eliminates water loss to the surface evaporation and it encourages plants to develop stronger root systems.” Wrapping up the video, she put the lid on to prevent the water from becoming a breeding ground for mosquitoes. This may sound too simple a trick, but it’s actually an ancient watering method called “Olla,” pronounced “Oh ya,” and translated to “pot” in Spanish.
What is an “olla”?
“An olla watering system is basically any type of unglazed clay pot that is buried beneath the soil with only a small amount sticking up above the surface and filled with water. You can tell that a pot is unglazed because it will be that classic terracotta red color with no shiny finish, glaze or paint,” Kream described in the video caption. In a process called “soil moisture tension,” the water leeches out of tiny holes or pores in the unglazed clay and is pulled through the soil to the roots of your thirsty plants, she said. Ollas work by equalizing the water in your soil bed so the plants aren’t overwatered or underwater.
Fascinated by the ancient hack, gardeners dribbled into the comments section. “Ollas! I love these watering methods, such a lifesaver in southeast New Mexico,” said @littledeerie. @rachiepantz commented, “This is genius!” @wup-di-doozy shared a variation of Kream’s method they used in their garden, “I glued the saucer to the top with food-grade silicone. Then turned it over and used the hole in the pot bottom.” The cue, in the end, is to observe whether your plants are going through recurring thirst or wringing-wetting episodes. And if they are, then toss away your sprinkler and pick up an olla to water them the right way.
@thecottagepeach Olla (pronounced oh-ya) means “pot” in Spanish, but the concept of using ollas as an irrigation system goes back thousands of years and has been used in countless cultures around the world. An olla watering system is basically any type of unglazed clay pot that is buried beneath the soil with only a small amount sticking up above the surface and filled with water. You can tell that a pot is unglazed because it will be that classic terracotta red color with no shiny finish, glaze or paint. The water then leeches out of tiny holes or “pores” in the unglazed clay and is pulled through the soil to the roots of your thirsty plants through a process called soil moisture tension. This functions much the same way as osmosis, in that the water is trying to equalize to a certain level of moisture within the soil. This means your soil will never become overwatered either - if the soil is moist, the water stays in the pot until it is needed. Will you try this in your garden? #olla #ollapot #oya #gardenhacks #gardenhacksandtips #gardentools #wateringplants ♬ original sound - The Cottage Peach
You can follow Dagny Kream (@thecottagepeach) on TikTok for more interesting gardening hacks.
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