Have you ever wanted to create your own garden but don’t have the room or yard for it? Well, you’re about to learn an incredible little method that will work no matter how little space you have.
It’s called the “bottle tower garden” and it can be installed along a wall, a fence, or even a hedge! It’s cheap and simple, but also helps reduce waste which helps the environment. It sounds perfect, right?
It comes from the mind of a man named Willem Van Cotthem who hails all the way from Belgium! He began working with this amazing idea back in 2011-2012 when he began to document the construction of his very first tower. All they did was stack some old plastic soda bottles along the edge of a fence in an old kennel. Soon they planted seeds during a gradual process for each bottle.
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In under a year, the space where they had stacked the bottles had completely transformed into a lush garden full of beautiful, edible vegetables and herbs. While their initial test was small, Willem believes that the number of bottle towers could be expanded enough to grow food for an entire family all year long. Meaning that your family could eat healthy, homegrown food without a yard!
This ingenious idea will dramatically change the lives of those living in cities who simply don’t have the ability to have a garden, but still want fresh vegetables.point 144 | However, it also has other huge benefits as well! Because of its low cost and minimal space requirements, it could easily help feed people in poorer countries where there isn’t much land that can be used for gardening.point 331 |
For the small cost of a couple of bottles and some potting soil, you can build your very own bottle tower garden too!point 95 | 1
Here is a short guide on how to make your very own bottle tower garden!
Collect your bottles, making sure you collect several of the same kind, as you want them to be around the same size. Then keep the cap on the first bottle which will be at the bottom of your tower.
Cut the bottom out of your first bottle. Also create two small holes at the top of the bottle, right before the bottle’s “neck”.
Fill your bottle with potting soil or a mixture of dirt and manure.point 167 | Now we have our base bottle finished.point 198 | Now we need some additional bottles to serve as the rest of the tower.point 255 |
Cut the bottom out of the next several bottles.point 39 | The amount of bottles will depend on how high you want your tower and the height of the bottles.point 117 | Please leave space for an extra bottle to go on top.point 159 | Fill those bottles with potting soil or dirt.point 197 | 1
Stack the bottles so that the tops go into the bottom of the next bottle. Place that stack on top of the bottom bottle and secure your tower with wires to the wall, fence or other surface.
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Next, leave a cap on the next bottle and drill a small hole into it. This bottle will act as a water tank and supply water for all of the bottles beneath it. You will also want to cut the bottom of this bottle out as well. Place this bottle at the top and pour some water into it. The hole in the cap will drip the water into the bottles filled with dirt below.
Now take a sharp knife and carefully cut a horizontal slit and two vertical slits in all the bottles except the water tank. This will create a small window for you to put your finger in and push the soil in.
Place the plant of the food you wish to grow inside of the window. Congratulations, you have finished your very first bottle tower garden! Because there is no way for the water to evaporate, it will require minimal upkeep and within a few short weeks you will see the fruits (or perhaps vegetables!) of your labor.
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