The reservoir of the small planter holds 8 litres of water. Then above it you can fit in 20 + litres of potting mix (ie half a bag of potting mix) .

Thanks for the question.
As the soil is now compacted and too wet I suggest that you turn out each pot as the plants are finished. Turn the soil over in a wheelbarrow to aerate the soil and dry it out a little for a couple of days. Add more organic fertiliser to replenish the nutrients. Then plant again. You will be able to do this for 4-5 years.
Some people add a layer of perlite or vermiculite under the potting mix to increase aeration.
In our own pots we use a regular Dalton’s potting mix from Bunnings. We do add plenty of organic manures eg Yates Dynamic Lifter (chicken manure) or sheep pellets, blood and bone.

If you have got plenty of healthy worms in the pots then it sounds like you have got healthy soil.

I find that Daltons potting mix is pretty good. Here’s an article I wrote for the website about potting mix
/potting-mix/
When you want to refresh it,just add more fertiliser to your old potting mix after you have turned it over to aerate it.Add more organic fertiliser eg 3 handfuls of Yates Dynamic lifter, 1 handful each blood and bone, lime, dolomite.

I assume that it is leaking from around one of the washers on the sight glass.
This could be due to either:
– the washer being damaged during assembly (one of the washers has notches to match up to the notches on the sight glass)
– or the nut on the inside not being sufficiently tightened. If this is the case, it will need to be tightened a little more with vice grips or large crescent.
Unfortunately you will need to take the plants and potting mix out to check exactly the location of the leak.

I assume that you have read the recent article I posted about growing carrots. There are several possibilities.

1. If your potting mix has large chunks of bark that can certainly lead to deformed carrots. Try putting the seeds in a layer of seed raising mix on top of the potting mix.It can also be caused by heavy recent fertilisation. Try using potting mix that was fertilised prior to the prior crop. Keep in mind that when the small carrot plant has a thread-sized root you need to try to ‘force’ the plant to send its root deeper to bring up water so you don’t want the upper soil to be too moist as the root will not want to go deeper.It can fork in these conditions too.

2. After the crop is finished, tip out the potting mix, turn it over to aerate it and pull out the bigger roots then replant the pot with your next crop. as you suggest, the smaller roots will break down in the potting mix.

3. I use Dalton’s potting mix – about $7 at Bunnings. Kings don’t have stores in Wellington so I am not familiar with their potting mixes.

You will need 20 litres of potting mix. Here in NZ the potting mix is sold in 40 litre bags. I am not sure what size they sell in Barcelona. I suggest that you start with some simple plants like lettuce, spinach and basil. Choose the type of lettuces that you just pick off some outer leaves. Not the type of lettuces that form a solid heart.
Have a look on the website for growing tips that I have previously posted about growing lettuces, spinach and basil.
happy gardening.