Reuse Water When Tending Container Plants
Here’s a way to cut water waste when watering containers and hanging baskets.
Standing containers and hanging baskets require frequent watering in hot weather. In full sun, they may even need water twice a day, particularly if they hold thirsty plants like vegetables and certain annuals.
To thoroughly wet the growing medium, we water until water streams out of the pot's drainage holes. "Self-watering" containers cut this waste, because water is added to the reservoir below the pot, then wicked up by the growing mix as needed.
To reduce waste in non-self-watering pots, move them into the garden or onto the lawn before watering them, if their size allows. That way the water passing out of the drainage holes can go to another plant. Alternatively, put a bucket under hanging plants to catch the water. It can then be poured through the container plant again, or dumped on a thirsty plant in the ground.
