@whitneymcn
I'm going to post a few replies to this explaining my self-watering pots growing tomatoes
The idea came from old days of using 2L soda bottles growing herbs and garlic.
It was a major hit during my "organic farming" half day classes I held in Ghana in 2016-2018 (before COVID and getting sick and ending it).
For tomatoes, I use 5L water bottles (I don't drink soda, and these are only 99centim a bottle, I use when baking because our tap water is terrible).
In order to get it to work, I use 2 bottles. One with the bottom removed for the plant and one with the top removed for the reservoir.
For wick, I use fabric from old cotton t-shirt. Soil is mix of compost, coco peat and perlite/Vermiculite. I also use cardboard from pizza to block the sun on the pot, previously I was painting them or using aluminum foil. But this is easier and less garbage after it's done.
These are not very good solutions, because it doesn't have the pipes to add water to the reservoir, so I have to lift the plant in order to fill it every 2-3 days.
I will make better solutions next year.
Hope you find it useful and feel free to ask me any questions.
#Balconygarden #ContainerGarden
@gardening