We know about self watering containers, but how about self watering garden beds?

This concept is simple, was used by ancient peoples, and is extremely efficient. It's called an olla. Pronounced "oy-yah", it is a vase shaped unglazed clay terra cotta vessel with a slender neck and a lid. Beautiful yet simple, the idea is to bury the vessel in the garden bed, fill it with water periodically, and plant around it.




 Because the vessel is porous, it slowly releases water into the surrounding soil as plant roots need it, and because the pot is buried, evaporation is severely reduced. I'd been reading about ollas and was interested in trying them, but hadn't acted on it. As luck would have it, I was at at the Plant and Pottery Outlet in Sunol, and there they were...for $10 each! I couldn't resist, so I took a couple of them home to try in my vegetable beds.

 Ollas before they were buried, placed about 4 or 4-1/2' apart in my beds. I placed my two ollas about 4-1/2' apart in my tomato/pepper bed. Buried up to their chins and filled with water. Now just waiting to see how the plants like it! The History From what I've read, olla irrigation has been traced back as far as 4000 years in China, and is thought to originate in Africa. It is and has been used by cultures all over the world.
Water Savings Water tends to seep through the wide, bulbous part of the pot which is deeper in the soil, not through the neck, so the surface soil stays on the dry side. The surface soil would act like mulch, reducing evaporation.
With the surface soil dry, it is said that fewer weeds will germinate. I will still mulch deeply, to keep as much moisture in the soil as possible, and keep the soil life happy and thriving. I love to experiment in the garden and I love this concept. It's so elegant and simple. I'm excited to see how the tomatoes and peppers do. I'll post pictures and an update as the season progresses.

Bohemian Lawn & Garden

A stylish, bohemian lawn and garden means a little bit eclectic and a little modern, but always colorful and fun. A boho look is perfect for those who like to mix it up with colors, textures and patterns, plus the bohemian look is very forgiving. The beauty of a boho look is that you can combine multiple pieces, for a contemporary mix of colors and patterns. An easy way to add boho style to your lawn and garden is by mixing three, unexpected colors in one space, for a pop of personality. Our favorite boho look is combining our ever popular, large décor planter, in burnt orange, aqua and cream. Three colors, which would otherwise be monotonous on their own, come together to create a unique, playful and easy focal point for any lawn and garden.


Faced with a sea of choices, if you select the wrong pot, you can waste money, time and even damage your plants. There are three main features to consider when choosing containers:  Drainage, Porosity and Weight. These and other factors, can help you avoid making costly mistakes.


It may save you a lot of heartache later, by taking into consideration how porous & heavy a pot is, as well as its drainage characteristics.
  1. Drainage – whichever container you select, it must have adequate drainage holes.  Healthy plants not only need room to grow, but also adequate oxygen for the roots.  Excess water must be able to escape or plants will drown.
  2. Porosity – porous containers such as those made from unglazed terracotta or clay, timber, paper pulp and other natural materials allow moisture and air to move through them. The key benefits with materials that ‘breathe’ is this allows air to circulate around plant roots and as the moisture evaporates out the side of the pot it cools the soil and helps draw excess water and prevents rotting.  The down side is these containers dry out more quickly and so does the potting mix so they need watering more frequently.
  3. Weight – Moist soil gets very heavy and if you choose a heavy container, this will make it harder to move it around.  It’s advisable to consider the total weight (soil + pot + plants + water) of each container.  This is really important if you are gardening on a balcony or deck. You may need to consult an engineer to find out if the structural capacity can handle the additional weight. If mobility and changing the look of your garden on a regular basis is an important consideration, select containers made from lightweight materials or put them on castors before you plant them out.  However, if you want stability in a windy or exposed position, then a heavy container may be a more suitable choice for top-heavy or tall plants.

Other aspects that may play a role in your decision include:


  • Aesthetics: Colour, shape, size and ornamental value.
  • Cost & Time: Depending on your budget and time you have to spend, you may choose to reuse or recycle containers rather than have the convenience of buying new.  Many people prefer to use pre-loved or repurposed containers or pots rather than buy at full retail cost.  You can save money, extend the life of an object rather than throwing it away and add character to your garden with a little creative thinking.
  • Food Safe: Some materials like plastics and metal can leach chemicals into the soil, so you may also want to select your containers very carefully if you plan to grow food.
  • Maintenance: If you want low maintenance pots, consider a material that doesn’t need restoring from time to time such as wood.  Wooden containers may need to be treated annually with a preservative or stain to retain their appearance and prevent deterioration in the weather.  Using such chemicals adds to the overall cost and can be a health hazard, especially if you are growing food. However if you love a rustic or earthy look, want to grow ornamentals and have the time, then these may not be issues for you.
  • Durability: The length of life depends on the quality and type of materials used and where the container will be located.  Think about whether you only need a temporary container or one that will last for longer.
  • Insulation properties:  How quickly a container heats or cools can play an important role in pot selection. In cool weather, consider selecting a pot with good thermal properties in a dark colour that attracts heat. This may be an advantage to protect vulnerable roots against frost and help extend the growing season by keeping the soil warmer for longer. In hot weather, dense containers like polystyrene boxes help provide a buffer against the heat.
  • Environmental issues:  Safety, sustainability and ethics of materials used.  If you are not sure if the materials used in a product are safe, then ask for a Material Safety Data Sheet from the retailer or manufacturer.  This provides a list of chemical treatments used and the health risks (if any).
  • Portability: You may choose a heavier pot if you are unlikely to move it. A lightweight one is a good choice if you want to bring it indoors occasionally, protect it from the weather or pests, or just change the look of your container garden from time to time.
  • Buy Local: Consider the impact of transport and production processes in your decision.  The further a pot has travelled from its place of manufacture, the bigger the impact on the environment.  Transport involves use of petroleum which contributes to pollution, the greenhouse effect and depletes non-renewable resources.  Ask your retailer where the pots are made.  The type of energy used to fire a pot generally depends on where the pot is made.  Ceramic pots for example, are fired using gas (least damaging), coal or wood/rice husks (most damaging).  Italian pots are usually gas-fired high quality terracotta.  Pots made in Malaysia are gas-fired, fully glazed pots with raw rims.   Pots from China are usually gas-fired and fully glazed but coal and oil are used in their manufacture.  Indonesian pots are generally unglazed and wood fired (using wood and rice husks).

Vietnamese Pottery

I guess that I have had a long love affair with Pottery.
From the traditional Tiger Pots of Singapore to the beautiful, bright colourful glazed pots now coming out of China and Vietnam I love them all.

When you are an expatriate living in the Middle East planting in pots means that if you have to move house or apartment you can take your beloved garden with you. It is also much easier to control water and nutrients if your plant is in a pot and the variety of pots available now means there is so much choice in size, design, material and colour.
Vietnamese pottery has a long history spanning back to thousands of years ago, long before the Chinese dominated the region. There was an unknown civilization which lived in Cát Tiên, South Vietnam between the 4th century and 9th centuries AD that made pottery and ceramics.
Vietnamese pottery is unique because throughout the centuries Vietnamese potters have combined indigenous and Chinese elements as well as experimenting with both original and individual styles.
They have introduced features from other cultures, such as Cambodia and India. At one time a Chinese emperor unsuccessfully tried to invade Vietnam but as a consequence the Vietnamese potters learnt how to make blue and white earthenware which was then exported all over Asia and became the most popular pottery in South East Asia.
When the Vietnamese pottery arrived in regions such as Persia, Java and China the potters of those countries started to copy the designs from Vietnam and mixed it in with their own traditional designs. At one time China banned exports of its own pottery for a thirty year period and this naturally allowed the Vietnamese pottery/ceramic industry to expand and become widely known in the world.
One of the reasons why Vietnam has always been a producer of Pottery is that it has lots of really good clay. Clay has to have two essential components, Silica and Alumina this type of clay is called Kaolinite and this is the type of clay that is found naturally in Vietnam.
Pottery is made from clay then it is heated to high temperatures in a kiln which removes all water from the clay, this process also produces reactions that lead to permanent changes including strength, hardness, shape and colour.
The properties of clays differ from country to country and it’s these properties that will define how the Pottery will turn out after it has been in the kiln. In Vietnam the clay is known for its high quality which makes the pottery strong and durable.
Another important part of making pottery is the kiln.
In the Middle East you can buy clay pottery from stalls or shops off the side of the road but unfortunately these have not been in a kiln so they still have moisture in them and it will only be a matter of time before they crack and start disintegrating.
The original Kilns in Vietnam were called Dragon Kilns.
They were called dragon kilns because they resemble the mythical beast’s body. A dragon kiln was built with bricks and earth had a sloping elongated tunnel, with a fire-box at the front end and a flue at the higher tail end where smoke was emitted. Pottery pieces were fired inside the tunnel using wood for fuel. During firing the crackling sounds of burning, rumbling noise of hot air, flames shooting from the fire-box and stoke holes and smoke escaping from cracks and chimney, make the kiln resemble a raging, fire-spewing dragon.
Unfortunately the Dragon Kilns became redundant but recently there has been movement by some countries to restore them.
In Vietnam all working Kilns are wood-fired as opposed to gas, electric or oil fired. Burning wood not only produces heat of up to 1400°C (2,500 °F), it also produces fly ash and volatile salts. Wood ash settles on the pieces during the firing, and the complex interaction between flame, ash, and the minerals of the clay body forms a natural ash glaze. If this glaze is not wanted then the items are placed in special covered containers inside the Kiln.
The history of Pottery from each country very much follows the history and development of that country and I find this makes the Pottery on my balcony and in my garden all the more interesting.

Ceramics museum offers trip through local pottery history Read more at



Brick in the wall: Local researcher Nguyen Viet Hong introduces a piece of earthenware brick dating back to the 9-10th century. A small part of Hong's collection was lent to the Kim Lan Ceramic History Museum for display.
by Nguyen Khanh Chi
An old-style tile-roofed house appeared in the middle of a large open public ground next to the headquarters of Kim Lan Commune People's Committee. Hesitation stopped me for a while before I entered the first community museum in Viet Nam.
The ceramic wares inside glass cabinets quickly caught my eyes. There were too many pieces to comprehend during a short visit.
I intended to take my eight-year-old son to nearby Bat Trang Village, which is known far and wide for pottery making. However, a talk with some other passengers on bus No 47 from Ha Noi's centre convinced me to change direction.
Kim Lan, the last stop of the bus route, is actually one of the oldest pottery villages in the land of Thang Long (the old name of Ha Noi). Kim Lan Village, several kilometres across the Red River from Bat Trang Village, was where the craft originated before it spread to Bat Trang.
Previously Kim Lan commune was located on the bank extending out to the Red River at the site of the current Kim Lan community. However, annual flooding, especially the large floods between 1970 and 1971, eroded the land. This also exposed the earthenware and ceramics that prompted the subsequent archaeological excavation.
Kim Lan doesn't enjoy as vibrant a business as Bat Trang as its residents focus on farming and pottery, while those living in the latter see pottery as their main livelihood. Thus, visitors to this craft village should not expect a bustling scene.
image: http://image.vietnamnews.vn/uploadvnnews/Storage/Images/2014/8/8/23-gom-kim-lan1.jpg?url=Storage/Images/2014/8/8/23-gom-kim-lan1.jpg
History lesson: The Kim Lan Ceramic History Museum is a real treat for those interested in learning about the history of Vietnamese pottery.
Nevertheless, the Kim Lan Ceramic History Museum is a real treat for those interested in learning about the history of Vietnamese pottery.
The museum opened in March last year thanks to the efforts of late Japanese archaeologist Nishimura Masanari and five elderly village craftsmen. It was granted a Bui Xuan Phai – Love for Ha Noi 2013 award in the Job category.
Valuable collection
The 300 pieces of earthenware not only create a vivid picture of the village's past and present, they also provide a glimpse of the country's pottery-making history.
"The artefacts displayed inside the museum make a significant contribution to the study of Viet Nam's ceramic and pottery history," said Dr Bui Minh Tri of the Viet Nam Academy of Social Sciences.
image: http://image.vietnamnews.vn/uploadvnnews/Storage/Images/2014/8/8/23-gom-kim-lan2.jpg?url=Storage/Images/2014/8/8/23-gom-kim-lan2.jpg
Tourist attraction: The museum has so far attracted mostly local students as well as Thai and Japanese tourists. — VNS Photos Truong Vi
Tri said archaeological studies revealed that Kim Lan villagers were involved in the craft as early as the 9th century, although it flourished between the 13th and 14th centuries.
Pieces ranging from bowls, plates and tea sets to animal figures, tiles and bricks are numbered and described in Vietnamese, Japanese and English. The variety of techniques used, from blue and white colouring to celadon and paired white and brown glazes, offers insight into the different eras of production, which stretched from the 7th to 18th century.
Vietnamese ceramics entered the international market in the 14th century, when they were exported to the rest of Southeast Asia as well as Egypt, Iran, India and Japan.
A shipwreck off Hoi An, which retained a cargo of Vietnamese ceramics dating to the 15th century, further proves the extent of international trade at that time.
Kishimoto Kosei, a Japanese sports and culture critic, donated ceramics from the shipwreck such as underglaze-cobalt jars, bowls and boxes to the museum.
There are also goods from other Southeast Asian countries, such as a set of earthenware from Cambodia, round jars from Indonesia and vases from Malaysia.
A set of ceramic liquor bottles made in Okinawa and an intact Dutch coffee bean grinder from the 19th-20th century revealed the unique features of ceramic wares from other regions.
Head of the Research Group Nguyen Viet Hong lives about 500m away. Visiting his house with the help of the museum guards, I was amazed to find out that the artefacts lent to the museum only formed a small part of his actual collection. Sets of bronze coins hung on the walls; other objects were contained in glass cabinets and boxes.
"Based on the excavated artefacts and structures, we identified that there was ceramic production around the Bai Ham Rong archaeological site between the Ly and Tran dynasties," the 78-year-old researcher said.
"The large number of bronze coins that I gathered indicates that there were also bronze casting workshops at the site between the 16th and 17th centuries."
Many tour companies have taken tourists, mostly Japanese and Thais, to see the old man's collection after visiting the museum. He has even been asked to sell it, but he always refused.
"I learn about our history in order to leave it to my offspring. If I sold them, it would be like selling my ancestors' sweat and efforts," Hong said. — VNS

Read more at http://vietnamnews.vn/travel/258570/ceramics-museum-offers-trip-through-local-pottery-history.html#8ecG8as4Ovg7EIxh.99

Thanh Ha Pottery Village

Pottery is not just a significant and traditional craft in Vietnam, but also an important means of livelihood. The Thanh Ha Pottery Village in Hoi An is a famous example in this type of an establishment that aims at furthering tradition as well as employment. The Thanh Ha Pottery Village in Hoi An is located in the Quang Nam Province in the Thanh Ha ward; Hoi An lies 3 Km to the east of it. The pottery village has a long historical legacy attached to it.



The tradition dated back to the time when the Nguyen Dynasty of Hue invited craftsmen f-rom the Thanh Ha Pottery Village to fashion some decorative as well as useful articles for the palace. This one event gained them sufficient renown to last them a lifetime. Henceforth, the village began a Mandrain system of grading craftsmen according to their talent. The most talented held the ninth position. The pottery at the Thanh Ha Pottery Village in Hoi An are all manually crafted and are exported world over. The techniques that they use are unique f-rom those prevalent in other provinces. The Thanh Ha Pottery Village in Hoi An crafts decorative articles along with useful items like cups, jars, bowls and pots. The flower pots made here are particularly sought after.
The Thanh Ha Pottery Village in Hoi An used clay mixing techniques, burning and baking time and heat modulations to bring out different colors like pink, pinkish-yellow, red, light brown and ink-black in the wares. The craftsmen also modulate all these aspects to achieve immense durability in their products. Aside of the regular articles, the Thanh Ha Pottery Village in Hoi An is also renowned for its bricks and tiles of various shapes and sizes. In fact its bricks and tiles are sourced out to the entire local as well as many foreign regions. It is the most trusted name for contractors engaged in tasks of renovation. 

Bau Truc pottery brand in Vietnamese tourism

Bau Truc Pottery Village in Phuoc Dan Town, Ninh Phuoc District is known as the only Cham pottery village in the south-central coastal province of Ninh Thuan and one of the most ancient in Southeast Asia.
Kneaded by hand, Bau Truc ceramic products are standalone items demonstrating the talent and unique craftwork of the artisans in the village.
Preserving traditional pottery




According to current statistics, Bau Truc Pottery Village has 570 households with 4,034 people, including 100 households producing pottery.
Ceramic products produced by artisans in the village are divided into two types, viz. domestic-use pottery and arts and handicraft pottery. 
Domestic-use pottery, such as jars, ovens and pots, mainly serve residents of rural areas and are consumed in the provinces in the south-central region and Ho Chi Minh City. 
Meanwhile, with diverse designs and patterns, craft pottery products, including flower vases, pitchers, lamps, decorative lights and statues imbued with Cham culture, have been popular not only domestically, but also on the international market.
The pottery industry in Bau Truc Village began a long time ago and is famous for employing strictly manual labour. 
Bau Truc artisans make use of the shaping “style” of Cham folk arts, using simple tools such as bamboo sticks, arca and snail shells to engrave different patterns, including symmetrical geometric figures, rivers and plants, into their pottery.
Two important factors demonstrating the uniqueness of Bau Truc pottery are raw materials and skilled potters. The clay used to make Bau Truc pottery products is taken from the waterfront of the Quao River. 
The potters smash the clay into pieces and mixe them with fine sand and knead the mixture. The amount of mixed sand depends on the size and uses of each product.
The artisans do not use spinning wheels to shape their products. They move their hands around the clay to create different shapes and patterns. After finishing an item, the products are exposed to the sun until they are dry and are then polished and burned.
Pottery products in Bau Truc Village are not baked in kilns. Artisans cover them with straw and firewood to bake them. With their skilful colouring and baking techniques, the potters give their products unique colours, resulting in the typical traditional style of the village.
Artisan Truong Thi Gach, 78 years old, said, “I started learning to make pottery when I was eight years old and my life wad devoted to this trade. There are few people having passion for pottery; therefore, I will make a greater effort to train younger generations in order to preserve the Cham culture’.
Developing the Bau Truc pottery brand in association with tourism
Phu Huu Minh Thuan, Head of Bau Truc Pottery Village Co-operative said that each year there were over 6,000 visitors to the village—70% domestic and 30% foreign tourists, mainly from Russia, Japan, Germany and Australia. 
“The village has focused on developing handicraft pottery products to meet the aesthetic needs of visitors as well as preserving unique identities of Cham culture,” Thuan shared.
Currently, the pottery cooperative displays more than 1,000 products of different types; many of them have sophisticated patterns, becoming favourites of a large number of customers, both domestic and foreign. 
At prices ranging from VND15,000 to VND3 million per product, the Bau Truc cooperative have sold around 35,000-40,000 pieces of pottery each year, earning a total turnover of over VND800 million.
In order to preserve and develop Bau Truc pottery, the Ninh Thuan People’s Committee implemented a “marketing strategy project for Bau Truc handicraft pottery for the 2010-2015 period, with a vision to 2020” with a total investment of VND26.3 billion.
In recent years, the province has paid much attention to supporting artisans in train younger generations and building a specific exhibition area for displaying and introducing Bau Truc pottery. 
In addition, the authorities enhanced communication on mass media to widely promote the products and marketed them at trade fairs and events on souvenir pottery products as well as providing capital support for households in the village to enhance their production and business activities and to expand their domestic and export markets.
Thuan also shared that the co-operative was building a project to export a large shipment of Bau Truc pottery to the UK late this year. The event is a good sign for the development of the Bau Truc pottery brand.
The relevant agencies are submitting a dossier with the aim of having Bau Truc pottery recognised as a part of the nation’s intangible cultural heritage. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will soon prepare the dossier for submission to UNESCO for recognition as Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding.
Nhan Dan