Hydro planters at Etsy

I always mean to make it to every Monday Night Etsy Craft Night. Something about sitting down and learning something new on Monday is just very appealing to me, but i admittedly don't make it as often as i want to.
When this hydroponic planter project was announced, i put it in my calendar and set a date with my partner to make some planters! We are always shuffling around our home garden to be able to grow more herbs - this year i started them way too late and have had no luck, so this was our round 2!
Okay, ready to get going! We started out with a slew of empty plastic soda containers that were theived from an apartment building's recycling center (we are not, and never will be soda drinkers). Plastic really isn't the best material to recycle, it degrades each time it is recycled, so upcycling it is far better. (imo)
We chose two of the coke 2 liter bottles because they had an interesting shape.
Next step was to measure six inches from the bottom and draw a circle around the bottle, and cut around. The beauty of this is that it creates a funnel out of the top piece, so you use the whole thing! Brilliant!

So now you have your two sections of plastic. You take some standard rope and cut 6 stripes at about 6" each. Use the sixth strip to tie them all together in center of the ropes' length.


Now place the top off the bottle you cut off, upside down inside the bottle - creating a funnel. Then take your knotted rope and place that inside the funnel, with the knot inside the bottle top. Now we're ready for "dirt."


Instead of using soil, we are using coconut shavings as a medium that will hold the roots of your new plants. So we filled up the bowl area, sprinkled in some seeds and we're almost done! when we got home we spritzed the seeds with some water mixed with algae plant food to give them some boost to start their growth.
And on to the decorating! My partner chose a string and felt motif, while i started on a knit orange cozy for my planter. You can decorate yours any way you want - just one note, leave some space at the bottom so you can see when you need to remove the funnel area and add more water to the base. You can find some great creations here on the Etsy Lab Flickr Stream.

-Kimm
KimmChi // Graphic tees + other women's clothing
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