Use Those Bottles to Water Your Garden During Dry Season

by Goodhart

11K199

Intro: Use Those Bottles to Water Your Garden During Dry Season

This instructable will show how to turn those quickly gathered water bottles into long term local watering canisters.

I get the local Grocery store brand spring water.

STEP 1: Gathering Materials and Tools - and the First Step

Needed, are a minimum of 2 bottles. Save the caps, and any bottles portions (after the top is cut off etc.; but I am getting ahead of myself).

The bottles I used are as thin as paper, so a good set of shears can but used for the one we cut.

  • A hand drill like the one I picture in the following steps next to the bottle is useful too.
  • A hot glue gun and glue sticks

and

  • something to cut the cap top off (keeping the threads).

The very first thing I did was to remove the top portion of the bottle. I used a small coping saw blade (the handle is in need of repair), as shown below.

STEP 2: Puting in the Holes for the Water to Seep Out Of

Using the hand drill, I made 2 holes in the bottom of the bottle, and one in the top of the cap.
Using the blade, I cut out the top seal of the cap.

Again, keep the bottom portion of the bottle that had the top removed for another project.

The cap can now go onto the upper portion of the bottle, only hot glue it on upsidedown, so that the threads can be used to secure it to another bottle.

This makes for a neat funnel that can be used to fill the bottle while in use.

STEP 3: More Holes

I used the drill to put more holes into the sides of the bottle (not too many), spacing them so there would be some water seepage but not so much that it would flow out over night.

It is kind of hard to see them, but they are more plain when they occur in the label of the bottle.


Now that the funnel is tightly screwed onto the bottle, it is time to test.


Take outside to the garden, and find a place near but not on top of the plants (you don't want to damage roots), and bury the bottle up to but not over the funnel.

You can fill the bottle until you see the water come up to the neck. Don't pack in the dirt too tightly, since this is only a test. The next morning, if the bottle is fairly or completely empty (a straw or stick will not be wet thrust into the bottle to the bottom), then you should probably uproot the bottle and fill some of the holes (hot glue works for this too). When you get it to last for a few days before needed filled you have your watering canister. Happy gardening. !

9 Comments

Goodhart 15 years ago

I guess using the mini hand drill makes it a bit too manual LOL

Goodhart 15 years ago

Ooooooops ! I missed seeing that one....oh well, I have another one I hope to get started on, that is totally different :-)

Lftndbt 15 years ago

Oh oh oh!! Finding a GH I'ble is like finding the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Nice work my friend!!

Goodhart 15 years ago

Thanks ...I hope to get a different and more complex one out in time for the contest too...but if not, I will get it out when I can :-)

NachoMahma 15 years ago

. Great idea. . I'd leave the top and cap on, unless I had a lot of them to fill.

Goodhart 15 years ago

Well, in a decent sized garden there might be a number of them, and it might just be better to cap it, and use a portable funnel. But then, as Kiteman pointed out, it is a lot like his (which I didn't see until he pointed it out in here). BTW: thanks.