Published 07 Jul 2025

Natural Self-watering Systems for your Plants

It’s hard work going on holiday! So many things to organise. A big worry for a lot of people is what will happen to your plants, especially during a hot spell. We’ve got a range of products that help reduce the amount of time spent watering, whether you’re away or not.

Keeping indoor plants hydrated

If they’re on a windowsill and you’re going away for a while, then it’s a good idea to leave them somewhere where they won’t be in direct sunlight. Our self-watering spikes are just the job for indoor plants. Simply soak the terracotta until it’s saturated, then fill an empty wine bottle or other long-necked bottle with water, invert the spike over it, then turn the bottle upside down with the spike over the end, and push it well into the pot so it’s secure. This can last up to a week, slowly drip feeding your plants. The smaller spikes are better suited to a smaller long-necked bottle. Alternatively, you can use our 300ml watering spikes. These are nice and easy to top up.

Self=-watering spikes are a way of keeping plants in containers well watered.

If you’re giving your plants a good soaking, some water may leak out of the bottom. Normally this would just evaporate but our neat little felt capillary mats absorb excess moisture, which is then drawn back up into the soil when it’s dry enough.

Keeping Outdoor Plants Hydrated

You’ll be familiar with our ollas by now? These terracotta pots are buried up to their necks, then filled with water. As the soil dries out, it dissipates into the soil and delivers water directly to the roots, reducing the amount of watering by up to 70%. The 4 litre ones are best for veg patches and allotments. The smaller curvy ones tend to be used in smaller beds or large planters. You can increase the water retention of the soil by putting mulch mats around plants, or putting a good lot of raw wool around them. These give the added benefit of reducing the weeds and helping to keep slugs and snails off. A cost effective alternative is to use cardboard, but be careful not to use too much printed matter, as the print can be harmful to the environment and get absorbed into the crops.

Raw wool makes an excellent mulch and retails water very effectively.

If you have a good crop of plants in pots and are concerned about them drying out in the summer heat, you can stand them in a tray lined with our sheep wool garden felt. This holds a surprising amount of water but still feels dry to touch, so the plants don’t get waterlogged. The water is slowly drawn up through the soil by osmosis.

tomato plants on wool capillary matting to conserve water

You can also use the self-watering spikes in hanging baskets, planters and containers.

Happy holidays and here’s hoping you return to some happy, healthy and well-grown plants!

Group of Herdwick Sheep

Sally Phillips

Inventor of Chimney Sheep

PlanetCare Microfibre Filter Starter Kit

PlanetCare Microfibre Filter Starter Kit

£140.00 78.57% £30.00

How does it work?

This ingenious washing machine microfibre filter kit uses cartridges to physically catch and retain the fibres that come loose when you wash your laundry. Each cartridge will last around 15-20 loads of laundry and is easily replaceable in just a couple of minutes.

Fibre retention is based solely on physical retention with the help of clever patent-pending technology.

You can also send the used cartridges back to us and we'll forward them on to PlanetCare. They will ensure that they are reused or recycled.  This ‘closed loop’ system ensures that there is minimum wastage throughout the whole process.

Something to think about:

Doing the laundry can have a huge environmental impact, whether that be using tons of energy running the washing machine and tumble drier - or the pollutants that are released from the products you use. Using a microfiber filter is just one way of reducing that impact. Why not make a few more changes - we've tons of handy tips in our blog.

 

What's in the box?

You'll get everything you need to fit your PlanetCare washing machine filter with these handy starter kits, meaning you can get it in place and start catching microfibers straight away.

The Mini Starter Kit includes:

  • 1 housing top with a cup, 1 holder, 4 screws, 1 tube (1.5m), 1 silicone lubricant, 1 counter, and 3 filter replacement cartridges.
  •  3 cartridges. These can last up to 60 washes.

The XL Starter Kit includes:

  • 1 housing top with a cup, 1 holder, 4 screws, 1 tube (1.5m), 1 silicone lubricant, 1 counter, and 3 filter replacement cartridges.
  • 13 cartridges. These can last up to 260 washes.

    Note: All the filter cartridges are 100% recycled and refurbished for use again and again via a closed-loop service.

       

      Is it easy to install?

      The microfiber filter is very easy to install. In fact, for most washing machines this process takes less than 10 minutes. The filters are compatible with all types of washing machines.

      There's actually a handy how-to video and a useful installation guide  you can take a peek at if you need a little bit more guidance.

      It’s a good idea to position it high enough above the floor/surface so the cover can be removed to change the filter and position the device so that it is easy to screw the cover back after each filter change.

      Please note: you will need 13 cm on the side of the washing machine and approx. 60 cm in height clearance so that you will be able to easily unscrew the housing and change the filter comfortably.

      The filter must be placed outside the washing machine on the drain hose. It should not be raised above the height of the drain hose exiting the washing machine. The hose length should be held to a minimum. Raising the filter and a long drain hose will both reduce the efficiency of pumping and filtering and should be avoided.

       

      What are the dimensions of the filter housing?

      The filter housing alone, without any attachments, measures the following:

      • height 325 mm, width (hose attachment direction) 122 mm, and depth 130 mm.

       

      Is the microfiber filter easy to use?

      For the first load, just make sure the filter cover is replaced correctly and screwed tight before using the washing machine. Try a short wash and make sure all connections and covers are fixed and watertight.

      It’s also a good idea to hold the top of the device when replacing the filter cover to avoid putting pressure on the bracket fixings when unscrewing the cover.

      After that, you do not need to do anything until the cartridge is full.

      >Easy!

       

      How does the closed-loop system work?

      When your cartridge is full you can send it back to us directly, simply go onto the delivery website Parcel2Go and produce a label to send the cartridges to us, don't forget to include your order details as we'll refund you the postage cost. We then send these off to PlanetCare who disassemble the cartridge and remove the fibres and filtering medium.  This is done in a controlled environment, ensuring that caught fibres do not pollute water or the environment.

       

      What does Planetcare do with the fibres?

      >At the moment PlanetCare is safely storing the used filtered materials. Once they have sufficient quantity, they will reuse/recycle it all. At the moment they are planning to reuse the materials by converting them into insulation mats. But, they're always on the lookout for viable solutions and will choose the best available option to reuse/ recycle the fibres.

      The waste will never be burned or sent to a landfill!

      The remainder of the cartridge is cleaned, and fitted with a new filtering medium ready to be used again.

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