What's an Olla?

nitaw

I saw Flame's post about using "ollas" and I'd never heard of it. Since they say "Google is your friend," I looked it up. Here's a link explaining ollas and how to construct a raised bed using them.

http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/2008/03/24/using-ollas/

This is awesome. It's certainly something I could do in my area with our hot, dry (but still humid) summers. Flame - how would the pots fare in the ground during the winter? Our winters are usually upper 20s - mid 30s. We can get down to the teens if there is a really cold arctic blast, but usually we stay in the mid-30s and get very little snow. 

Mrs.GinTN

That is really cool! 

CoolMoD

What an awesome idea, thanks for sharing!

To answer your question about over-wintering the ollas -- I don't have any direct experience with using ollas, but I have about 14 years of experience with ceramics.  I'm also in south Jersey, adn your winters sound about the same as ours.  Personally, I'd dig them out once the temps start to drop and your growing season is over, then replant them the following spring.  if the olla is going to work, it needs to be very porous clay body in order for the water to leach out. Any clay that porous will also retain water well, which in turn will cause the clay to crack and break once the water hits freezing temperatures and starts to expand.  if it's too cold where you are to leave terra cotta flower pots outside over winter, then it's also too cold for ollas. 

scatterbrainliz

Thanks for sharing the link!  That's a great idea.

Pamela05

I really need to try this.  Surface drip irrigation isn't working for us and we travel too much during the summer weekends for our plants to survive without it. 

Now to start looking for some of these pots around here.  I don't think I could get them in now that our garden is in, but I should be able to try with at least half the garden for our late summer garden.

Hey Jellisy

You can make Ollas using 2 plain clay pots. Cover the bottom of one of the pots, enlarge the opening of the other to make watering easier (a dremel works well here) and then use a silicone sealant to join the two pot rims together.  Bury so only about an inch is above ground and then use either a saucer or rock to cover the hole so you don't grow any mosquitoes with your plants.

flame

I LOVE my ollas.  I get mine from a local microbusiness run by a non-profit - http://eastcentralministries.org/content.asp?CustComKey=327941&CategoryKey=428816&pn=Page&DomName=eastcentralministries.org .

They sell on-line.  But lots of catalogs (especially those that specialize in zeric southwerstern plants sell them (High Country Gardens, Seeds of Change, Native SEEDs).

I haven't had issues leaving my ollas buried over the winter.  But I have an odd micro-climate in my veggie patch and never get a hard frost.  My temps in ABQ in winter are in teh 20s and 30s (without taking wind chill into affect). The one key is that the ollas do need to be absolutley dry. Which in the mile high desert is no problem.  Some winters I do take them out.  It depends on if I still have veggies growing (soem years I have tomatoes until December thanks to frost cloths and a solar heat called teh big concrete wall).

I find I usually want to pull them out for winter anyways.  Because my ollas placement changes based on what I am planting in my bed that year.

Ollas are great becaus ethey help maintain a consistent water moisture content.  And I don't have the evaporation issues I do when I water the surface only because ollas deliver the water directly to the root zone.  And watering teh olla is much easier than hand watering my 3 4'x4' beds. Plus, they are great for containers,

One thing I do is use flat rocks on the top of the ollas to lessen and evaporation from the olla "spouts."