Olla Market Garden

Reduce the time spent watering plants to once a fortnight or more.  Bury the Olla in the soil, plant or sow crops within half a radius of it and fill with water. Once established plants find the water source and wrap their roots around the pot, drawing water as they need it. Further extend time between fills with mulch. 

The terracotta pot is fired to a low temperature which makes it porous, this allows water to seep slowly out of the pot and into the soil. Soil moisture is maintained at a constant level in a ring around the pot as far out as the pot is wide . 

Trialled in a polytunnel mid heatwave, summer 2025, on a cut flower farm in South Wales. A bed of dahlias lasted 3 weeks on two full ollas. Crop to olla ratio depends on plant thirst and size but for example you can plant 4 dalias or six tomato plants per pot.

• Perfect for crops in polytunnels and sun traps.
• Competitivly priced in comparison to drip irrigation.
• Avoid damaging sensitive leaves while watering.
• Dormant weed seeds on the surface left undisturbed.
• With care will last for 5 years plus
• Evaporation reduced by 90%

Product Information:

• Height: 390mm (incl. spout)
• Length: 390mm
• Weight: 1kg
• Capacity: 1.85lt
• Material: Terracotta, unglazed

Thanks to Bettina @_the_rowan_tree_ for trialling the Market Garden Ollas and modelling them so beautifully in their polytunnel.