Pronounced "oh ya" they are an ancient water irrigation technique.
Ollas are unglazed and unpainted ceramic water pots.
The idea behind it is that you bury the pot in dirt with plants around it,
fill the pot with water and the water slowly seeps through the walls of the pot
watering the roots of the plant. There is no evaporation or run off
so it is a great way to save water.
After researching and doing some homeschooling with writing and drawing what we were going to do
Ellie and i set out with a 3 liter milk bottle. Poking holes in the side we found that it was too brittle and water was lost very quickly.
While Ellie got to digging mum found a juice bottle, poking fewer holes in it
I was told to stand behind her and take lots of pictures!
Our soil is so sooty and dead. I transferred a lot of it to our compost
bringing back some soil that is alive with nutrients
We dug a hole deep enough to sit the bottle in, allowing an inch or 2 to sit above the surface
We then filled the hole, around the bottle, with soil and put our parsley and spinach in a
fairy circle around the bottle. Also adding to it with our lovely worm castings.
Sad to say that the bottle once filled with water empty's within minutes, but it was a great homeschooling project.
Tomorrow i am sourcing out some potters studios.
Ellie and i would love to make our own authentic Ollas!
Ollas are unglazed and unpainted ceramic water pots.
The idea behind it is that you bury the pot in dirt with plants around it,
fill the pot with water and the water slowly seeps through the walls of the pot
watering the roots of the plant. There is no evaporation or run off
so it is a great way to save water.
After researching and doing some homeschooling with writing and drawing what we were going to do
Ellie and i set out with a 3 liter milk bottle. Poking holes in the side we found that it was too brittle and water was lost very quickly.
While Ellie got to digging mum found a juice bottle, poking fewer holes in it
I was told to stand behind her and take lots of pictures!
Our soil is so sooty and dead. I transferred a lot of it to our compost
bringing back some soil that is alive with nutrients
We dug a hole deep enough to sit the bottle in, allowing an inch or 2 to sit above the surface
We then filled the hole, around the bottle, with soil and put our parsley and spinach in a
fairy circle around the bottle. Also adding to it with our lovely worm castings.
Sad to say that the bottle once filled with water empty's within minutes, but it was a great homeschooling project.
Tomorrow i am sourcing out some potters studios.
Ellie and i would love to make our own authentic Ollas!
5 comments:
This is where worm wicking beds would do amazingly well.
I am in a dry part of australia and when they are used it is watering once a week at the most for amazing, lush veggie crops using them.
If you are not familiar with the wicking beds, you can find out about them on my blog, under the "How To-Wicking Beds" label:)
What an amazing project. Good for you!
Thanks for sharing
I love this idea, both for a homeschooling project and to use. I also like the sound of the wicking beds that Molly talked about so I will have to check them out to. Thanks for the ideas - we are planning on a big vegetable garden when we move at the end of the year and I have lots to learn about it all.
Thanks Molly, Heather and Janine. The wicking beds sounds like a good idea. I have found a potters class that is local so i think i am going to try and get a homeschooling group together to have a morning of pottery there. Hopefully by the time you are in queensland we will have the art of making ollas perfected Janine
Great experiment!
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