I love potted plants, but I’m really, really bad about remembering to water them. Â I even considered investing in those aqua globes you’ve seen advertised on tv until my last trip to Napa when I noticed a few wineries using wine bottles to water their potted plants……..and I was like, “Now this I can do!”
It’s so easy.  All you do is soak your empty wine bottles in a solution of water and distilled vinegar (half and half) to remove the labels (about 24 hours).  Or you can skip that step and leave the labels on if you prefer that look.  Then you literally just fill your bottle with water and stick it into your planter pot.  You’ll want to push the bottle down in there at an angle until it won’t go down any further.  Also the drier your plant is the faster it will soak up the water, so if you want your watering system to last for a little while be sure to start by really soaking the soil well.
If you want to slow the flow of water from the bottle you can either follow this example making a hole in the screw top, or using a cork push a nail through the center as seen here. Â I’ve found for my large pots out on our screened porch that just using the wine bottle alone works perfectly!
I love how the bottles look!  So far this seems to be working in keeping my plants hydrated.  Filling the bottles is a lot easier than filling up the watering can a million times to water them……now let’s just hope I continue to remember to refill the bottles when they’re empty.  😉
Now to drink more wine in the name of watering the rest of my plants. Â Like I need an excuse. Â If you’re looking for more outdoor projects and inspiration be sure to check out my Outdoor Pinterest board. Â It’s filled with lots of exterior eye candy and easy to do summer projects!
I did this last year when we went away in the summer and it worked great. I actually own Aqua Globes but guess what, I forget to refill them. They are purely for decoration, ha!! The wine bottle holds more water and I love how yours look without the labels on them!