Olla bowls save water – These Terracotta Olla Bowls have been made in southern Alberta (High River to be exact). I use as local of clay as I can find. It takes a special blend of clays to make Terracotta and they are not all found in southern Alberta.
I make these ones using clay casting slip, which I make myself in small batches. They each will hold approximately 2 Liters of water (just over 1/2 a gallon, for my U.S friends).
Each one is a little unique, but these are all basically the same. They are made to be buried in the garden. The rim will be all that you see, and you’ll only see that when it is time to refill them. Pity though because they are pretty.
Olla Bowls Save Water – Let’s test it out
This Ginger has been hurting for a while. Mainly because I keep forgetting to water it. On the upside, everything else in he pot dies, so it made this part easy. I just dug out enough sol to sit the olla in, with some soil all around it. It is ideal for the olla bowl to be in the middle. For even distribution of the water. The Ginger in this pot is the last one, so I didn’t want to disturb the roots too much.
These ones take about 2 Liters to fill so, here we go.
Filled up, and covered. Any flat rock will do.
The extra 2 inches above the top of the soil isn’t the biggest deal. It is the capillary action of the soil and plant roots that draw the water out through the clay, so it will still work just fine.
Check out my YouTube channel for more and some videos.
Or the other Olla Bowl page where I use a regular terracotta pot to do this at very low cost for a client in Calgary.