Things You'll Need:
- 2 recycled buckets (with a lip)
- One 2-liter soda bottle
- Ruler
- Permanent marker
- Sharp knife
- Drill
- Saw
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Step 1
Select a bucket of the appropriate size for the plants you intend to grow. A 5-gallon bucket is ideal for growing tomatoes and peppers, but a small 2-gallon bucket is adequate for flowering plants like geraniums, impatiens and petunias.
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Step 2
Stack the two buckets so one rests inside the other. The rim on the inner bucket should rest on the lip of the outer bucket. Measure the distance from the top of the inner bucket to the top of the outer bucket to determine the depth of your water reservoir. The reservoir is the space between the two buckets and equals the distance between the top of the inner and outer bucket.
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Step 3
Wash and dry a 2-liter soda bottle, and mark the height of the reservoir minus 1 inch on the cap end of the bottle. Use a permanent marker to trace a line around the bottle. Mark a second line around the bottle 2 inches above the first line toward the bottom of the bottle. Cut the end off the bottle following the second line. Make cuts running from the cut edge to the marked line at intervals of 1 inch. Press the cut edges away from the bottle to create a funnel with a flanged edge.
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Step 4
Remove the inner bucket from the outer one. Turn the inner bucket over and locate the center. Cut a hole the diameter of the soda bottle in the center of the bucket. Insert the bottle through the hole so the cap end faces downward, and tape the flanged edge down with duct tape. Insert the bucket into the outer bucket and check that it allows adequate room for the funnel end to protrude into the reservoir but not touch the bottom of the outer bucket. Adjust as necessary.
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Step 5
Locate the area on the outer bucket that corresponds with the reservoir. Mark and cut a rectangular hole approximately 2 inches by 4 inches (depending on the depth of the reservoir) through the side of the outer bucket to provide access for refilling the reservoir and checking water levels.
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Step 6
Assemble the planter and fill the inner bucket, including the funnel created by the soda bottle, with soil. Add plants and fill the reservoir with water. Keep the reservoir filled with water. When the soil in the funnel is exposed to the water, it will draw the water upward to the plant.
