The Best Watering Technique You've Never Heard Of

This is a terracotta clay face. I'm going to bury it in my garden and I'm going to show you why it just might be one of the best passive irrigation systems you'll ever use. What I have in front of me today are Oya's. These two over here are Oya's. These will become Oya's as I show you how to build a DIY one later in this video. But what is an Oya? Well, it is a passive irrigation system thought to have been originated in Northern Africa, in China. There are records going back over 2000 years for Oya's and the Spanish, since I live here in San Diego, are thought to have brought it in to the Americas where it's become popularized, especially in Mexico and the native peoples in pre-Mexico. So why is this such a fantastic system for watering? Well, in dry lands and drought stricken areas, much like we have here in San Diego, a buried unglazed clay pot is a tried and true method for making the best use of the water that you have. So let's take this little clay face and I'll show you exactly how it works. It's an unglazed terracotta. Unglazed because you actually do need seepage out of this material. This is a porous material that slowly does let water get out to the exterior that you've poured inside. So that's key number one. Number two is the narrowed neck helps with evaporation loss. So it's a narrow neck. There's not that much up here at the top cause it's going to seep upwards as well for it to then get evaporated and go into the air and not into the soil. And then number three, the real strategy here is, here's your soil level. You bury it down, you fill it up with water. The water slowly seeps out. If the soil needs that water, it's basically going to suck the water off of this surface and roots actually, if you plant a plant near it or around it, and we'll get into a couple of different layouts you can use, it will actually grow around and the roots will sort of suck the water right off of this surface here. So it's an incredibly effective use of water in the garden. So a few advantages to using Oya as compared to other systems, or maybe even in tandem with other systems. Number one, if you are a gardener or a farmer who really likes to direct sow your seedlings and then you know they need a lot of moisture as soon as they come up, I'm thinking things like maybe carrots or tomatoes, you can go ahead and direct sow in rings around an Oya knowing that they're actually going to get the water they need so you don't freak out and it doesn't wither as soon as it germinates. One big benefit there for vegetable growers, like myself and hopefully a lot of you watching, you can save up to 50 to 70% of your water use that you would traditionally irrigate. Let's say if you had an overhead hose, you're going to get a lot of benefit from that. And then you can use things like your laundry water. You can use things like your sink water. If you have an outdoor sink, take that gray water and fill up your Oyas. And speaking of, you're probably wondering, okay, cool, how much does this actually spread out? How much space does this cover and how do I actually plant a garden around the use of Oyas? So let's take this directly into the garden. The way to think about an Oya is not so much how big the Oya itself is, it's how big the spread of water seepage around the Oya is. So we have a chart that displays roughly, based on the diameter of the Oya, how far it actually spreads out. So call this about a six inch across Oya. It's going to have a diameter of 9.5. So that's diameter. That means that on each side it's going to be roughly four and a half to five inches spread. So when you put this down into the garden, let's just imagine I'm placing it right here. You only have that spread to play with. Otherwise the water is simply just not going to reach. So what you need to do when you're placing an Oya, especially in let's say a round bed like this, is you need to place it in an area that has maximal spread. So obviously right in the center where this basil's hanging out would be the ideal spot. And then plant plants around it, roughly half the distance of that spread. So I would plant very, very close to this Oya. It's only going to come out to about here or so, but in a container that's actually perfect. And then I'd cut that in half and plant around it based on the plant spacings that you're growing for whatever plant it is. So with beans, peas, et cetera, you'd space them around in sort of a circle and you'd be in a good spot. Now if you're going to put these in a series in some sort of row style garden, or maybe in one of our larger raised beds, then what you want to do is play with this diameter. So I know I have about five inches on this one, five inches on this one. So 10 inches here is roughly how I want to space them. And then you can put plants anywhere in that circle of spread that you're building. So when you have multiple Oyas, you just want to make sure that you're not crazy overlapping the spread, but you're also not leaving any wide gaps. So let's show you how to actually bury one and use it in your garden. I've got this incredible in-ground bed here and I'm just going to site it right in the middle for simplicity's sake. But of course, remember everything we just said about Oya spacing. So what I need to do is get it down to roughly here, if not a little bit more, but going right at that narrow neck is perfectly fine. So what I'm going to do is just dig in. So I'm just going to dig out as much as humanly possible here to make sure I have a nice snug fit. In goes our face. I think we're in a good spot right about there. Now what I want to make sure and do is backfill around because remember the soil needs to be touching the actual clay for it to have that seeping or that suction effect. Now that we have our Oya buried, just want to pop the top off and fill it up all the way. There we go. Top always remains on. You do not want this to be a breeding ground for mosquitoes. So a couple of things here. You need to make sure and refill it as it gets drained, not all the way down. So about 50% or so, you're going to want to refill it. That might mean it's a daily job for you. It might mean it's a weekly job for you. It depends on the qualities of your soil, the plants that are growing around it, as well as the size and diameter of your Oya. So a little bit of gardener's wisdom there. And then if you are in a cold climate, it's a good idea at that frost date to dig these out, clean them off and put them in an area that they're not going to be subjected to a ground freeze and thaw and freeze and thaw, which of course, with terracotta makes it prone to crack. Now, these are prepared Oyas. These are manufactured Oyas. These are actually handmade in Mexico by an incredible company. We offer them on our store, but you might not want to do that. You might just want to DIY an Oya. So I'm going to show you how to do that right now. If you want to make your own Oya, it is certainly possible. I'll give you two really easy methods, but I will say it simply isn't going to perform as well. Doesn't mean you shouldn't do it, but these are purpose made. And the reason why they work so well is because that narrow top prevents a lot of evaporation at the very top, which means you just have to fill it less often. But let me show you two methods. The first one requires one terracotta pot, one lid and a little mounting putty. So this is from Gorilla Glue. All you're going to do here is grab some of the putty, just enough to fill the bottom drainage hole. Better yet, maybe a pot that doesn't have a drainage hole. Still has to be unglazed terracotta though. So in we go. Once it's set, you can actually flip this upside down, fill it up with water, dig a hole out, and then lid goes right side up. Boom. And you have a makeshift Oya. Now, of course, with this amount of surface area, it is going to need to be filled up a little more often. You don't have quite as much, but hey, it requires a lid, a pot and some putty. So you're good to go on a budget Oya. Now, let me show you another method that gives you a little more surface area and is maybe a bit more true to the spirit of the Oya. So what you need here, two terracotta pots, and that's it. What you're going to do is with either silicone or mounting putty, I'll just use mounting putty because it's very simple. You're going to plug up the bottom hole of the one that's on the bottom. So I'm going to choose this one for my bottom. And now we want to take it and stack it just like this. I can actually turn it this way cause that's the way that it would be faced in our Oya situation. And what you want to do here is take a caulking gun with some silicone, waterproof, watertight, all that kind of stuff and come around the edge here and lay a bead of silicone around this entire system here. Once your DIY Topsy Turvy Oya is sealed off, the silicone has dried, all you really need is to just bury it much like I've already showed you. Grab something, I just have a little pebble here to block the top, make sure no mosquitoes get in, make sure less evaporation. And you have a much larger Oya. So the spread here and the water volume are a lot larger and it's still a DIY. So whether you're grabbing a pre-prepared Oya, I'm absolutely a huge fan of this large one. And then the small one with the face is just kind of cute. Or you're making your own, try to think about different ways to irrigate your garden passively and effectively. And until next time, good luck in the garden and keep on growing.