Olla, again...

This is my finished single prototype. The whole thing can be made with stuff easily found at the local building supply. It is currently supplying a group of three compact vine cucumbers and they seem to be doing better. I companion planted them with my brocolli and the brocolli got most of the sun and water and everything else. Brocolli is gone know (it was delicious) so I thought the cucumbers would make the perfect guinea pig for my experimental olla. It is a little ugly but it could be easily hidden or more attractive parts could be used. I am currently working on more so I can hook them up in series, but ultimately I think hooking them up in parallel would be the best. What do you think?

Excellent job- (and resourceful container choice)! I am inspired. Is it working well so far? I'd love to make some of my own. I have a bed that is hard to get at with the hose, but it's right near a downspout...I'm hoping I can figure out a way to put in a rain barrel and then connect to ollas in the bed from there. I have lots of questions. Could you tell me where you found your info? Do you know how big the pots need to be, how far apart, etc? Is regular terra cotta o.k. or is there something that is extra porous?- and where you found a cover that fits them?

OK, ollas are my new obsession.

I posted a couple of links to sites that i found helpful in a previous thread about ollas. i used 5" pots and I think that is a good size for most needs in the garden if you are going to set up a barrel or something to feed it. I just used the regular terra cotta pots you find at the nursery or building supply. The olla you see in the picture seeps out enough to keep about a 12" radius watered so i would think placing them about 2 feet apart would be OK. Hooking them up in parallel, probably via a manifold of some sort, would be best because if something goes wrong with one the others will still work.

I am basically dinking around with this system because I want to only use the water the plant really needs and I want a more self-sufficient garden, you know, for when you go on vacation and stuff. My goal is to have the garden be able to water itself for two weeks, without using sprinklers. I think somethings will need drip irrigation and an automatic timer but I would like to use ollas as much as possible. I am also trying to figure out a good way to setup my EBs and EPs so they can be more self sufficient.

I have some pictures of how I put it together. when I get them organized I'll post some.

Loving the olla updates! It looks great and as soon as I'm less intimidated I want to try some. Our farm here has little good soil so were always tight on good space and this looks like a great way to stretch it. (This year I mounded the good stuff for melons and left the sandy pitiful mess for the vines)