Looking to expand your garden without wasting water? 🌿 In this video, I’ll show you how I use Thirsty Earth Ollas (clay pot irrigation) inside my greenhouse to grow bigger harvests with less effort.

Have you been thinking about expanding your garden like I have? 

When I go to expand my garden, I love to get more ollas. 

Just makes growing a lot easier for me. 

So, how many ollas do you need? 

Each ollas has about an 18 in watering diameter, as you can see here. 

But if you live in a drier climate or you have really hot summers, you'll want more ollas per that grow space. 

Another thing to consider is thirstier plants like tomatoes, zucchini, broccoli. They like about one plant per cup. 

Even like with some squashes, pumpkins, it's it's good to do about two cups, but yeah, they like to have a little more water. 

So, it's pretty straightforward to figure out how many ollas you need. Just plan on about 18 in per grow space, your beds, your in-ground gardens, your pots, and then you can adjust if you're planting thirstier plants or if you're in a drier area. 

If you live in an area that gets hard freezes 28° or below, you'll want to pull out your ollas before the hard freeze hits and put them away safely until the weather warms up. An affordable way to expand your garden is to grab an Thirsty Earth Olla expansion pack. 

It comes with more ollas for less money and it comes with a free winter storage box so you can store your Ollas until the weather warms up. 

And word on the street is Olla expansion packs are on sale now.

Q: What's included in an expansion pack?

A: In a 10 cup expansion, you would have 10 ollas, ten 1/4" push-to-connect T fittings, one 1/4" push-to-connect elbow fitting, a 25' roll of 1/4" tubing, and an olla winter storage box. A 20 cup expansion would have 20 ollas, twenty 1/4" push-to-connect T fittings, one 1/4" push-to-connect elbow fitting, a 50' roll of 1/4" tubing, and an olla winter storage box.

Q: I don't have a kit yet, but I want to take advantage of the sale on expansion packs! What's the difference between an expansion pack and a kit?

A: What a kit includes that an expansion pack doesn't is a reservoir and the associated fittings, or the parts to DIY your own reservoir in the case of the 20 cup DIY kit. That would be a 5-gallon food grade reservoir, a 1/2 NPS female to 1/4 push-to-connect, a 3/4 female spigot adapter to 1/4 push-to-connect, and a 1/4 push to connect shut-off. Add those to your order if you don't already have them and want everything you need to get started!

Q: How can I map my layout?

A: Use https://virtual-graph-paper.com/ and take your cues from the basic template for our standard kits, or contact Eric directly via email at Eric.Jordan@TheThirstyEarth.com with an overhead sketch of your garden layout and dimensions and he'll work with you on it!

Q: The winter storage box is just a cardboard box! Why!?

A: A box with slots for each olla is the easiest and most convenient way to store them for winter. If you're in a dry environment (we recommend storing them indoors in a garage, basement, or shed), it wicks away any lingering moisture that may remain in your cups which could cause damage in freezing temperatures.

Q: Why can't I just drain them and leave them in the ground for winter?

A: We've tried that and, in a greenhouse, where the soil was allowed to dry completely and it was protected from the rain, it worked. In a natural environment, it didn't. Ambient moisture from rain, snowfall, and the soil around them can infiltrate the pores of the terracotta and expand into ice crystals inside of it, causing damage. It's best to avoid that by storing them properly over winter, ensuring many seasons of abundance for your Thirsty Earth olla watered garden.