2 Liter Planters For Inside Herb Gardens

Instructions, Photos and Design by JW.

1/23/2012

Intro:
I began this project with the intent to lessen my grocery bill in small ways. I found myself preferring the taste of fresh herbs instead of pre-dried varieties, so I did some research (my thumbs are anything but green!) and have come up with a design for simple herb planters. I have not branched out yet to see what other herbs will thrive in this type of planter, but I’m actively saving my 2 liter bottles and plan to plant a few more herbs and small house plants.

Please improve on the design as you see fit – I am in no way an expert gardener and used mostly things I had laying around the house. Please send me any suggestions, and I will be happy to put in some revisions!

Find some 2 liter bottles.

a.       Generally, you can get a 2 liter of various beverage varieties at the grocery store anywhere between $0.75 and $1.50.

b.      Ideas to more quickly gather bottles: Any social function that you attend (ladies groups, book club meetings, church functions, daycare, etc.). Ask to have the bottles held out or collect a few on your way out.

c.       I started with 4. You can start with one or ten. It depends where your comfort level is and the amount of space you have.

       Materials List:

a.      Ruler

b.      Permanent Marker

c.       Scissors or Kitchen Shears

d.      Kitchen knife with a sharp point

e.      Hole Punch or Compass (Yes – The old school pokey-thing with a golf pencil from high school math class)

f.        Spool of wire or heavy string (I used 18 gauge crafting wire I had laying around)

g.        Potting Soil (I used Jiffy Organic Seed Starting Mix. $2 for 4.4 L at WalMart)

h.      Jiffy Peat Pots – Size 3 (Pack of 14 under $2 at WalMart)

i.         Seeds - $1.39 pack for Ferry Morse brand Parsley, Cilantro (Corriander), Dill and Oregano.

j.        Needlenose pliers (if using wire for hanging, this will save your fingers!)

k.   Those 2 Liter bottles I mentioned earlier. ;-)

My Total Material Cost:  $9.56 pre-tax

Gather those materials, and let’s get started!

         Bottle Types:

a.       Generally, you will have either Pepsi or Coke brand bottles to work with. For my first planter, I found a Coke bottle was the easiest to use. It has lines close to  the middle already pressed into the plastic, which is where I wanted to cut my bottle in half.

         Remove the bottle labels carefully - You do not want to puncture the bottles yet.

           Get our your ruler and permanent marker. Measure about halfway up the bottle. 

     You will want the bottom to be a little taller than the top so try not to cut exactly in the middle. Go at least one inch higher than the middle. Usually 6 ½ to 7 inches from the bottom is a good start. This also leaves some extra plastic in case you need to cut down a little to straighten out the edge that will become the top.

a.       For Coke bottles, there is already a line pressed into the plastic. Cut on the top side of that line, and your edging is already finished!

    

     

    *Yes, I'm aware my ruler is backwards in the photo - The bottles were 12 inches exactly and I'm not a leftie, so to get a correct shot, I'd have had to put the ruler backwards. You get the idea.




b. For Pepsi product bottles and generic brands that do not have the nice molded line, you'll have to make one yourself. Mark around the entire bottle using your ruler and marker to make a line to cut by (shown left).

     Use the kitchen knife to poke a hole and start a cut in the plastic. Trim the rest of the way around the bottle with scissors to ensure a straight edge.

a.       Tip: Put the point of the knife on the line and angle the knife upward when pressing into the bottle. This way, if you cut to fast and accidentally cut a crooked line (like me the first few times…) the blade will cut into the upper part of the bottle and not into the bottom. The top doesn't have to be pretty - The bottom is what's going to show.

     After cutting the rest of the way around the bottle, put the top half into the lower half (cap off), and press firmly. If you cut about dead center in the middle of the bottle, it will stick out about an inch higher than the bottom.

a.      

Tip: Do not force the top into the bottom – It’s ok to have to trim it down a little for both Coke and Pepsi bottles. 

b.      As shown above (right), use the permanent marker to make a line around the top of the bottle.

                         

c. Trim off the extra plastic from the top of the bottle, cutting around the line you just made.

Into the top of the bottle, cut lines up about 1 inch and about 1 inch apart. If you put a slice in the seam, you should get 9-10 cuts going the whole way around (this does not have to be exact – Just don’t do too many. You’ll see why shortly!)

a.       Place the top into the bottom – It should slide right in and all the way down, sitting with the opening of the top sitting in the middle of the bottom (high point). Like this:
           

Open your bag of potting soil, and put a little in the bottom to fill up the curve of the top. This is what you will sit your peat pot on top of.      

     Set peat pot in cup on top of potting soil. Gently, fill in around the cup, keeping it in the middle.

a.       I recommend wearing gloves and using another peat pot to fill in the soil, rather than pouring from the bag. Do not fill the container up entirely. At highest, keep it to the brim of the peat pot. Remember – You still have to get seeds and water down in there!

b.      Tip: Press down gently on the pot while filling around it, and slowly move the entire bottom back and forth and tap softly on the table to allow soil to settle. Don’t pack it down, but don’t leave it too loose.

c. My reasoning for using Peat pots inside the planter are in case I should ever have to move the plants to another planter or pot. This way, the roots are already contained inside the peat planter, so I can move the plant and not shock it too badly.

 My seeds recommended an overnight soaking. I counted out 8 seeds of each type (except Oregano – That would have been ridiculous because they're so small!).

I have no idea if this will be too many – Just kinda winging it. I’ll find out soon enough! 

a.       To soak, I used the only cups I could write on that I had on hand. Red. Solo. Cups.

   

Tip: Some seeds look very similar, so it’s a good idea to label the cups you put them in. 

 

 At this point, I realized I had not yet figured out how to hang them. If you want to put them on a window sill, then once you put in your seeds, you’re finished.

If you want to come up with a hanging apparatus keep reading...

a.       Determine how and where you want to hang the plants. Wire or string will work fine, as I decided to use plant hooks and screw them into the upper, inside of my windows. Pick a place that will get ample sunlight (not too much, but at least for part of the day) and a place that no pets or small children can disturb them.

b.      If you’re crafty with string and want to do some sort of awesome weaving basket for it to sit in, go for it! I decided to go with crafting wire, though I’ve considered a string basket of sorts to make it more decorative. Perhaps in another post!

c.       I had some crafting wire laying around that worked out perfectly, as the planters are very light:

  

      I decided to use my high school math class compass, since I felt a hole punch would be too large for the wire. Certainly I don’t expect everyone to still have one of these laying around, but if you do – it works great for poking holes through 2 liters!

     BONUS: If you ever run into a past math teacher, you can tell them that yes – You have used one of these outside of their classroom. ;-). (Thanks Google Images!)

a.       I used 3 holes spaced evenly around the top of the planter, going down about 1/3 inch.

   

b.      Tip: I recommend waiting until you’ve done a few of these to know how far down you will need to put holes. Go down too far, and you may end up with soil going everywhere when you fill up the planter. Take care not to spill as you make the holes – Be gentle.

     I made up as I went along for this last part, but I cut the wire into lengths of 1 foot. This allowed about 9-10 inches for the plant to hang, and a few inches that I could gather up and wrap to secure the wires together.

a.       First, I bent the wire like a 'J' and put it through the hole. 

                b.       Next, take the 'tail' and wrap it around the longer part. I did the first two or
                     three twists with my fingers, then needed the pliers for the rest. 

                          c.    For the top, I picked the longest wire that was sticking out, and wrapped it
                       around the other two. This was a little tricky, but it doesn't have to be pretty.

                        d.    Once I had the long strand of 3 coiled together, I used the pliers to curl them
                      into a circle. 

   

 CONGRATULATIONS!

You have finished the construction of your 2 Liter Platers! 

After your seeds have soaked overnight, gently pour out as much water as you can until only a tiny bit of water remains with the seeds. Part the soil gently, and pour in the seeds. Cover and water enough to dampen the soil all the way through. 

The awesome part of this type of construction of planter, is that the bottom of the 2 liter acts as a drip catch, and helps keep moisture in. Typically, I only have to water my plants ever 3 days. You don't want them to be too water logged, but enough so the soil stays damp. 

Also, keep an eye out for mold. I have not had any yet. I'm contemplating poking some holes above the water line in the bottom for some additional ventilation. I have not done this yet. 

Please in either direct or indirect sunlight - From my experience so far, they are getting mostly afternoon/evening sunlight and after 1 week all but the cilantro have sprouted. 

Parsley: 

Dill:  

                    Oregano: 

Enjoy! Please leave me any helpful tips to make these better. As I said, I'm not a gardener so if there is anything that would help my plants grow better I'm happy to try it!