Gardener’s Self-watering Planter: Assembly, Disassembly, Reassembly
...doable by one, better with two.
Long-time readers of RainyDayMagazine’s RainyDayGarden section know that we have only three rules when it comes to gardening:
- Don’t water unless absolutely necessary (i.e., prolong drought, heat wave…);
- Plant only perennials, with the exception of basil (we love basil); and
- Do as little work as possible (meaning “If a plant lives, it stays”.)
These rules have allowed us to create a green space which is both low-impact (low water usage, no fertilizer, etc) and low-maintenance (no mulching, no weeding, etc).
The recent heat dome over Boston almost made us break our “no watering” rule for the herbs, but the new-to-us self-watering standing planter from Gardener’s Supply Company had sufficient reserves, and so made watering unnecessary for the plants under its charge. That that, heat dome!
We were going to write up our experience with this piece of gardening gear for the “no watering/less work” gardening crowd this Fall, but we decided to push up its release because of the timeliness of the topic this week.
FirstLook
A local startup was looking to do something different with their indoor space. Instead of the bland and impersonal cubical walls, they had the idea of using planters to create “living dividers” between the spaces.
Where normally there would have been panel dividers, the startup decided that there would be planters full of plants providing separation and creating a bit of privacy. The idea was interesting, but in the end it didn’t work…more on that later.
They looked around and decided that the best option was a free-standing self-watering planter from Gardener’s Supply Company. They ordered a bunch of them and we offered to help them decide which plants to, uh, plant.
We also offered—in exchange for documenting the steps for a write-up—to put one together for them. We had been eyeing this planter for the RainyDayGarden, but never got around to pulling the “buy” trigger. Anyway, it seemed like a good opportunity to take a closer look at one before ordering.
What came in the two boxes:
- Frame, sides, screws
- Trays (2 soil holders, 2 water holder), accessories (water gauge, piping)
The complete kit consisted of two boxes: the planter in a flat pack, and the reservoir trays in a separate box. All the holes were drilled, and some metal pieces were attached, but assembly was required.
Assembly
The assembly instructions were very clear, but we recommend looking it over carefully and laying out all the pieces before trying to put it all together. An electric drill made screwing everything together a lot less tiring, as there were a LOT of screws 🙂
Pro Tip: Make sure the shiny aluminum rails of the end pieces sit UNDER the black rails of the side panels. The structural design is such that if the aluminum rails are under the black rails, then they support the weight of the pans (full of dirt and water) resting on the rails of the side panels. If the end rails are on top, then nothing is supporting the side rails bearing all that weight, other than the screws holding the side rail in place, which we are convinced would not bear the pans.
Putting together a self-watering planter is not difficult, but it is definitely a LOT easier with two people and enough room to maneuver. Working inside on level ground is recommended. Once assembled, the unit is VERY rigid and stable. It was also easily moved—while empty—by two people.
Disassembly
In the Fall, we got a call asking if we would be interested in having one of the self-watering planters we had helped put together…wait, what?
The trial run with the planter had ended. We won’t go into the specifics, but because the planter was really designed for outdoor use, the planter was not suitable for use as the “living wall/desk divider” originally envisioned.
The planter would be discarded if we didn’t take it, and if we wanted it, it was ours to take. They didn’t have to ask us twice 😉
While we absolutely wanted it, our problem was we didn’t have a way to move it. We could have waited until we found someone with an SUV to help, but we didn’t want to chance the weekly trash pickup coming by and hauling it away! So, we devised a plan that would work with the transport device aka car that we had.
The simplest way to fit the planter into the trunk of the Camry of one of the editors was to take it apart. Amazingly enough, taking it apart was not that hard and didn’t take that long. We took a look at how the planter disassembled and how much space we had in the trunk and realized that we didn’t have to take everything apart: we only had to remove the screws holding the end pieces to the side pieces. Bonus!
Anyway, we managed the loading very well and got the planter and all its pieces into the trunk, thus preventing it from becoming landfill.
Reassembly/FirstUse
The disassembled planter sat outside from November to April. On a nice warm day, we reassembled it, and put it in a sunny spot.
A point of note: reassembling was easy and when it was put back together, it was just as rigid and sturdy as we remembered it. This is a well engineered planter!
Instead of using random soil from the garden, we filled the planter with six 40-lb bags of MiracleGro Potting Mix. At 240 pounds fully filled this planter won’t be going anywhere during a Nor’easter1
So what are we planting in this self-watering planter? For this first season, we wanted to get a feel for how it behaves, and decided to try growing some herbs (basil, cilantro, and two types of parsley) from seeds.
It took about a month, but most of the seeds germinated…all without us having to tend to them! Encouraged by that, we decided to go completely “hands off” to see how far we could push it.
During the recent “heat dome” event, no additional watering was required. All the seedlings thrived, especially the basil and cilantro. Apparently, we could be completely “hands off” 🙂
It is going to be a good pesto and chimichurri Fall!!!
FinalThoughts
Even though it has only been a few months, our experience with the Gardener’s self-watering planter so far can be called an absolute success! The disassembled planter sat outside, exposed to the elements all winter, and suffered no ill effects. We were able to put it back together, put it to work, and are seeing very healthy plants even with some very challenging weather conditions.
The addition bonus was, even though we LOVE all the bunnies running around, some of them have been a bit aggressive with selected plants…eating them to the ground. While we are not sure if they would be interested in the plants in the above ground planter, we are OK with them not having access to them 🙂
“Hey, bunnies…eat all the clover you want, but stay away from the flowers. They are for the pollinators!!!”
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