Not Your Ibu’s Garden Planter

You may remember my last experiment, the vertical garden. It was inspired by the piles of plastic that never seem to disperse at school. Well I’m back to tell you the tomato plants are big, green, and happy. I also have a new prototype, the self-watering planter, and I’m here to show you how to make your own!

An Experiment in Gardening Vertically

Most of the time I’ve got soil on my mind, or seed starting, or plant diseases. Where others see rotting trash I see lush untapped organic matter waiting to be composted, even to a fault sometimes. Recently my obsession proved constructive. Here’s what happened.

Last week was different. Classes were cancelled to celebrate the school’s anniversary. School had the air of a carnival with all the competitions and performances going on. On Thursday some students performed a play. As the hundreds of other students looked on in the courtyard outside the mosque I could be found — not spectating from the teachers’ section — but on my hands and knees collecting used plastic bottles.

A sad reality about Indonesia is the unabashed littering. Everywhere I go I see people throwing away candy wrappers in the street, peanut shells on the bus, trash out car windows, and diapers into the river (not to mention defecating). The town square is always occupied by a plague of plastic bags. But this is “normal” here, or so I thought.

I was both fascinated and infuriated by what I learned in class two weeks ago. I used the topic of “littering” to teach persuasive essays. My students gave me over ten different reasons why littering is bad, and totally avoidable, yet they all confessed to be habitual litterers! “It’s just the easy thing to do, Mr. Matt.” The problem here is not education but attitude.