Getting my plants drunk.
Not really. (Not quite sure why the photo's come out quite so fat by the way. That's a normal bottle of wine and not a mini-vat). No, it's a Plant Nanny - a marvelous invention that allows you to leave your plants unattended, but attended, without having to stand them in a bath of water, run a piece of rope from a bottle to the soil and all those other solutions we turn to.
They're terra cotta receptacles; you stick the pointy bit well into the soil in your plant pots, fill it to the top with water then invert a bottle of water into it. Empty wine bottles (which are ten a penny in this house) are great because the neck fits snuggly into the Plant Nanny. The idea is that the liquid seeps through the terra cotta into the soil on an as-needed basis. No danger of drowning or otherwise killing your plants. And it works for me every time.
Don't buy these if they're not terra cotta; the water needs to be able to bleed through. Glass or plastic (no matter how decorative) don't cut the mustard.
Stay tuned for more going-on-holiday ideas!
