Turn a Styrofoam box from the grocers into a self-watering planter pot

It's hard to get stuck into gardening when you're renting or don't have much space to play with. Most wicking beds are large and use gravel in the water reservoir to help wick up the water but Czech-born Roman Spur has adapted his to use only potting mix in a 500mmx300mm foam box — the ones usually thrown away by greengrocers or at vegetable markets. What you can grow in a wicking bed In a 300mm-tall Styrofoam box, you'll have about 200mm of soil, which is perfect for herbs, salad greens, strawberries, garlic, onions, dwarf beans, bush tomatoes, or peas. How to make a wicking bed What you'll need: Tall Styrofoam box with no holes in the base, plus its lid Three 100mm lengths of 50mm-wide PVC piping Knife Bamboo skewer Measuring tape Marker pen Mosquito-proof netting, thumb tacks 1 longer piece of 50mm-wide PVC pipe, 5-10cm taller than the box Potting mix Use this diagram and the instructions below to build your own self-watering garden bed. To assemble the bed, return the three PVC pipe legs to their positions in the subfloor and put this, legs-down, in the box, then fit the filler pipe in place.