A gardener has an urgent public service announcement: It's time to rethink the conventional way we water potted plants and employ a better way.
The scoop
Popular gardener Joseph Clark (@joesgarden.official) shared the surprising shortcomings of watering your potted plants from the top in an Instagram video.
As Clark shows the standard technique from up above, he provides an alarming truth.
"If you water your potted plants like this, then you may be causing more harm than good," he says.
Containers are popular because of limited garden space, but that often leads to ineffective watering. Showering plants from the top with water may not be enough to get the entire potted plant properly hydrated.
As an example, Clark shows a bucket of soil that appears wet on the surface. After he digs a little deeper, he reveals it is "bone dry" just a couple of inches below.
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To fix that, he suggests placing the pot or multiple ones in a large tray filled with water, allowing the soil to absorb moisture evenly from the drainage holes in the bottom.
For larger plants, Clark recommends creating a cavity in the soil to submerge a smaller container, filling it with water to ensure better absorption throughout the pot. Both of the strategies appear in the video, and it's easy to see that watering the whole pot of soil gets wet more evenly.
How it's helping
Clark's techniques can help gardeners grow healthier plants and generally enjoy a better experience.
Gardening offers numerous benefits, such as saving money on groceries, improving the taste of produce, and enhancing mental and physical health.
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Ultimate green thumb 🧑🌾 Having that experience marred by struggling plants can put a damper on the whole activity. Clark's simple strategies can help gardeners ensure their plants are getting all the water they need. Other tips can accomplish the same goal in the peak of summer heat.
What everyone's saying
Many Instagram users embraced Clark's method, with comments echoing plans to try the technique and sharing additional tips.
One gushed: "Omg the smaller pot in the bigger pot trick is clever!"
"Great tip one of my plants dried up despite regular watering, now i understand why," they wrote.
It did cause a bit of an existential crisis for one gardener: "This is going to keep me up at night. I always thought that as long as it drips from the bottom, it's well watered. Oh my, my poor babies."
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