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March 24, 2008

By Anais | email author

Olla gardening by Curtis W. Smith, NMSU Extension Horticulture Specialist

Irrigation of plants by means of ollas, unglazed pottery jars, is an ancient practice. It was brought to the American Southwest by Spanish settlers and adapted to local gardens by Native American gardeners as well as by the Spanish settlers.

Over time, modern systems were adopted, but these modern systems are not as efficient as irrigation by seepage from buried ollas. Modern systems, even surface drip irrigation systems loose more water to evaporation and more likely to clog than ollas. When ollas are used properly, plant roots will proliferate around the moist clay jar, intercepting water before it can move through the soil by capillary action. This water intercepted by plant roots will then be used in the plant transpiration stream. This results in almost 100% of applied irrigation water being absorbed by the plants.

Olla irrigation solves problems for gardeners who cannot irrigate frequently, and is a boon for plants that should not be irrigated frequently. Ollas allow gardeners who travel as well as gardeners whose irrigation frequency is limited by water conservation ordinance to irrigate infrequently while still maintaining the health and beauty of their garden plants.

Proper plant and olla selection is important. Woody plants may break the pottery jars as their woody roots grow in diameter. Herbaceous plants are less likely to damage ollas. Olla porosity, size, and shape must be matched to plant water needs, root size and root distribution. Deeply rooted plants benefit from deeper ollas, shallow rooted plants are more efficiently irrigated with shallow ollas. The diameter of the olla may also be chosen to match the diameter of the plant cluster. Shallow, broad, ollas will provide adequate irrigation for clumps of grasses and annuals,

Olla plantings should be planted in clusters to maximize water use efficiency. While the planting group may be of one plant type, mixtures of grasses, annuals, biennials, and perennials may also be planted around a single buried olla. Mixtures of plant types may be used to create a more natural landscape. The olla clusters may themselves be clustered to create more expansive or linear plantings.

The olla pottery may become a decorative element in the landscape along with large rocks and flagstones. Portions of olla left exposed above ground should be glazed or treated to prevent evaporation.

To modernize these ancient irrigation systems, the jars may be recharged by a drip irrigation system, timed and sized to replace water lost from the ollas. Recharge of ollas may be done daily, or as frequently as allowed by water conservation ordinances.

Outgoing - snow peas (bottom right corner). Incoming tomatoes (middle of photo)

Positioning the 1.5 gallon ollas in the raised (4′ x 8′) bed

Digging to submerge the ollas in the ground

The olla goes into the hole

Burying the ollas

Another hole for one of the ollas (notice the seed catalog in ‘Mr Seed addict’ pants pocket!)

Ollas are submerged. One tomato, two tomato …..

Hmmm, Farmer D & J decide how many should we plant?

This one goes here, move this one there (still carrying the seed catalog in pocket!)

Filling up the ollas

A completed raised olla bed

:: Resources ::

More about clay pot irrigation - archived journal entries
Links & articles
BUY Ollas for your garden online supplier

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Topics: Clay Pot Irrigation, In the Garden, Posts by Anais | Tags: Clay Pot Irrigation, natural irrigations, ollas, water conservation, water wise garden

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16 Responses to “USING OLLAS”

1. Evelyn Says:
   March 24th, 2008 at 6:02 am

   Thank you for thanking the time to take these pictures. I am buying some when I get my next pay check. Thank you a lot.

2. PhoenixJen Says:
   March 24th, 2008 at 7:13 am

   Great pics! Love the commentary about the “seed catalog in the pocket”.

   The other day I visited a government building where I had to have my small purse scanned. There were “suspicious objects” in the bag so they made me emply out the contents, which included the following:
   –one water spigot for a rain barrel I was constructing
   –one package french breakfast radish seeds
   –the ubiquitous seed catalog (this one from Native Seed Search in Tucson, AZ)
   –a small notebook containing various drawings of the yard for water harvesting purposes
   –a “sheet” of plastic washers for hose connections
   –a pair of socks
   The guy sorting through my stuff gave me a really odd look.

   Hey - what can I say?

3. Kaitlin Says:
   March 24th, 2008 at 7:55 am

   Thanks for the pictures and for listing the bed size. What size are the ollas you used in this instance?

   Thanks!

4. Anais Says:
   March 24th, 2008 at 8:05 am

   Kaitlin

   We are using 1.5 gallon ollas.

5. Anais Says:
   March 24th, 2008 at 8:05 am

   Phoenix Jen

   Very funny! Thanks for sharing

6. Devin Quince Says:
   March 24th, 2008 at 8:27 am

   What a great resource! We are going to try this in our garden once the snow melts.

   Here is our 2nd 100 foot meal with some weather changes
   http://quinceurbanhomestead.bl.....eal-2.html

7. Ginny Says:
   March 24th, 2008 at 9:41 am

   Very nifty! Thanks for the photos.

8. d.a. Says:
   March 24th, 2008 at 1:24 pm

   I’ve never seen this sort of irrigation system before! This would work really well for our plot (we’re also putting in 4′x8′ raised beds, six of them).

9. Emily B Says:
   March 24th, 2008 at 7:11 pm

   Thank you for the information about the ollas.
   They are a wonderful way of watering gardens, especially when we can only use tank water, no mains for us.
   I have a different style of clay pot, but they are working wonderfully! Mine have been in now for two weeks and are no where near needing a top up. And the ground is lovely and moist.
   Thank you for the wonderful information!

10. Laurie Says:
    March 25th, 2008 at 9:48 am

    Hi PTF! Thank you so much for the photos of ollas being installed. NOW I “get it” I guess I need to see it step-by-step. I am wondering if you have trouble finding the tops of the ollas (to add more water) when the beds are mulched and the plants are lush? Do you mark them somehow? Your garden beds look as “jungle-y” as mine usually get, and I can imagine searching through the growth to find the watering holes. Is this a problem for you? I am also very encouraged by the commenter who has gone two weeks on one fill up. >Wow< Thanks!

11. emilyB Says:
    March 25th, 2008 at 7:55 pm

    I just thought I would add to my comment above that when I FIRST PUT my ‘ollas’ in I fill the olla and also water the soil around it. Plants seem to recover quicker if it (watering) is done a day or so in advance, before planting or sowing seeds, as it is wonderfully moist.
    I love making tee-pea frames over the olla and then sowing directly the pea seeds.

12. Carol Says:
    March 26th, 2008 at 11:36 am

    Great pictures! Beautiful gardens!!
    I am wondering if one could use plastic milk jugs with holes in the bottom to do the same thing…??? I can not afford the ollas right now, although I love the way they look, and the concept. Right now my garden is in the planning stage, as we are in chilly Massachusetts, but we are doing lots of dreaming!

13. Anais Says:
    March 30th, 2008 at 11:33 am

    Thanks for the comments all. Glad you found this pictorial helpful.

    Carol.

    Yep, you sure can.

    Check out this article about using MILK JUG IRRIGATION

    http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf18501842.tip.html

14. toni Says:
    April 23rd, 2008 at 5:32 pm

    I’ve done the plastic milk jugs before. They don’t work very well. Use a needle to make your holes. Experiment before you bury them. Not too many holes. Maybe 3 or 4 to start. I gave up on that idea since my hydrant is in the middle of my garden and I can water anytime I want with well water.

15. Moria K. Says:
    May 4th, 2008 at 4:38 am

    I have been cruising through your website for the past month or so and I am very encouraged and inspired to do what I can. I live in northern WI so our growing season is short but I am making the best of it. We live in the city on a 60×140′ lot(.2 acres) We are just starting out in the journey to increase our self sufficiency. We are using about 25×25 area of our lawn for the garden. I hope to take the master gardening course this fall and in the mean time I am experimenting with raised beds(we just finished making 15 of them and are in the process of filling them with topsoil, compost and worms) and now that I learned of olla irragation I am going to do a few beds in that as well. All of this is so brand new and exciting I feel like a child anticipating Chanukkah. Thank you for the inspiration.

    BTY Thank you for standing up for what God has put on your heart(asking people not to purchase from sundown Friday to Sundown Saturday). Praying God’s favor for you and your garden. May you recieve greater than your goal!

16. Tim Maple Says:
    June 19th, 2008 at 7:01 am

    Hello. In my search for information on ollas to use in my own urban garden I stumbled across your site. All I can say is marvelous!! I am in love with the whole idea of becoming self-sufficient and I find your site interesting, informative, and just plain cool!

    tpm

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