Start your spring gardening right in your sunroom or deck or patio enclosure!  Looking to get a jump on your planting?  Why not try out building your own pop bottle subirrigated planters!  It’s fun and easy; a great project to get the kids involved in.

How to Build Your Planter

You will need a few things for your planter and a few tools to construct it.  Materials needed:  2 liter pop bottle, potting mix, seeds or seedlings and batting material.  Tools needed:  a box cutter or scissors, goo gone. drill or sodering iron and a marking pen.  Make sure you get potting mix and not potting soil, potting soil is too heavy and becomes too dense.

There are 5 easy step involved in putting it all together.  First, remove the label.  Second, mark 7” up from the bottom and cut.  Third, make aeration/ drainage holes on the top of the bottle using either the sodering iron or the drill and drill a ¼ inch hole in the cap.  Fourth, cut a piece of batting 1” by 6” and insert in hole in cap.  Fifth,  put the cap back on, place it into the bottom of the bottle (cap down), fill the top with potting mix and plant your seeds or small seedlings. Click here  for comprehensive instructions along with some great step by step pictures.  The only step to consider adding is to do an intial light watering from above, just to get the potting mix settled.

Once you’ve got your planters complete with seed or seedlings place in your sunroom.  Place your planters in your room accordingly, seedlings tend to like more light than seeds, checking on the package or tags for best conditions.  Finally, sit back and watch nature works it’s magic all around your sunroom! 

Learn more about using recycled bottles to grow your plants in your sunroom!