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In several places people have mentioned that there is a watering problem with terra cotta pots. That is, that they are great at wicking water away from the soil that is in them.

For several years, I have used plastic bags from Garden Fresh to line my terra cotta pots. For the smaller pots, I just use one bag, put it into the pot fill with soil, and trim off any thing that shows. For the larger pots, I split the bags and line the pots with them.

Doing that, I only have to water every other day, rather than once a normal day, or twice on low humidity days.

What a good idea!

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another issue with terracotta is they don't like chicago winters. i think about half of our terracotta pots that were left out are now cracked. (we started them off in a greenhouse so it wasn't going to be an issue, that is until 85mph winds came off the lake and blew away the greenhouse in december. another note to anyone who is curious: greenhouses on rooftops=wind sails)

something to consider if you don't have indoor winter storage for them.

The reason I started using the plastic bags, was just to make my life a bit easier each fall, when it was time to bring in the terra cotta pots. The fact that I have to water less is a happy bi -product.