Materials:
Milk or Juice cartons
Knife and Scissors
Potting Soil

optional
Brush
Acrylic paint
or
Fabric
Glue
A foam brush (or a sponge)

Instructions
Clean the container(s)

Decide how deep you want the container to be, and draw a line around the milk carton where you want to cut. Use sharp scissors or a serrated knife to cut out the top of the milk carton.

Optional: cut a cute design, like ears or other things on the top

Optional: Paint the carton or wrap it in fabric

a. You may need to coat it more than once, allow the paint to fully dry between coats and before continuing.

b. Using a sponge spread white glue over the carton and wrap the carton with the fabric, cut the corners of the fabric to fold easily around the bottom. Put a little glue on the top edge to avoid fabric to fray.

Fill the planter with potting soil, up to ¼ inch from the top. Plant your seed according to the packet and cover the seed with some soil. Mist the soil and place the carton on a sunny windowsill.

For more room you can lay the carton on its side and cut the topside off

To avoid overwatering you have two options.

First, you can punch a hole in the planter bottom so that water drains.
Use a screwdriver, knife, or scissors to poke a couple of holes in the bottom of the carton. This will allow any excess water to drain out of your planter.

The second option is that you can add some pebbles in the planter bottom before adding the soil. It will prevent the roots from soaking in water and rotting.

You could also add flowers instead of seeds.

Materiels
2 liter bottles
potting soil
seeds
thick string or yarn (either cotton or poly seems to work)
Phillips screwdriver
hammer
sharp blade to cut the bottle

Instructions
Cut the bottle in half.


Use a Phillips screwdriver and a hammer to punch a hole in the center of the bottle cap.

Cut a length of yarn/string about 1'-1.5' long, double it over and tie a loop on one end.


Thread the yarn/string through the hole in the bottle cap so that the knot is on the inside of the cap.  This will act as a wick, drawing water up from the basin below and into the soil.  The plant will take only what it needs, so the soil moisture will be perfectly regulated.

Put the cap back on the bottle top and nest the top of the bottle in the base. As the plants grow and use up the water, you can just lift off the top to add more to the base instead of pouring it over the soil.  As the soil dries, water will be sucked up through the string into the pot.

Optional: Label your bottle so that you remember what you planted

Add potting soil and seeds

Water....

You need to water the soil from the top the first time in order to make sure that it is uniformly wet and that the string also is wet.  Otherwise the surface tension of the water will prevent the whole thing from working correctly.

Some Notes:

Instead of lifting the top off every time you want to water, try cutting a small (maybe 1 inch) hole in the side of the water container, not large enough to compromise the stability of the bottle, but large enough to fit the spout of your watering can in. Might also help the bottle breath and discourage mold build-up.

Use a nail instead of a screwdriver (to protect possible damage to the screwdriver) Or even use a small drill

Also, you can cut the bottom out of a somewhat smaller bottle and place it inside the top of the planter until the plants reach a couple of inches. It sort of acts as a mini greenhouse by keeping the humidity high which is critical for very young seedlings.

For plants intended to go outside into the garden, I would recommend ONLY using cotton string or other biodegradable things for the wicks.

I used the outgrown, (grungy!) shoelaces from my children, grandchildren, & hopefully, great grandchildren (if shoelaces are still used by that generation), for wicks. They really work well, & I reuse then year after year. I soak them in dish soap, & hand wash all after season’s use, & store them in my gardening bag.

Make Your Own Homemade Sprinkler, but Do Not Forget to add Remote Control ....... Instructions not included.


Materials
Two Liter Plastic Bottle
Electric Tape
A Garden Hose
A Screwdriver or A Knife, or a Thumbtack (really just anything sharp to poke holes)

Instructions
Make sure the bottle is clean, no need to really dry

optional remove the label

make 12-14 holes in the bottle using a screwdriver or any sharp tip tool. These holes will allow water to come out as it does in a sprinkler.

attach the hose with tape

optional

using wire, attach the bottle to a pvc pipe and place it where you would like to water your garden

Replace the middle board of picnic table with rain gutter for drink cooler!