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Written by Admin
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Thursday, 12 May 2011 21:27 |
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Apart from the early spring sowings to give plants a head start when planted outdoors after the last frosts, I usually sow some seeds at least once each week at this time of year. These are often for salad plants to have a succession over the summer months.
Paper Plants Pots
Germinating seed in paper pots and later potting on to larger pots until they're planted in their final growing position allows them to continue their growth unchecked. I make pots from newspaper which is quite tough if not handled when it's very wet. In fact the less paper used the better as it can take longer than one expects to break down, allowing the plant roots to penetrate for more space.
Here are a couple of pots of 'paper pots' ready for compost from a few weeks ago. Some are toilet roll inserts and others are made from newspaper. Here they are now as the tomatoes plants are becoming established.
 Making Plant Pots
Any straight sided container can be used to make these pots, depending on the size of the pot required. In this instance I used a small wine bottle. I use a larger bottle or jam pot for larger pots when I run out of milk cartons or other household waste.
This video demonstrates one technique for making paper pots.
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Written by Admin
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Monday, 04 April 2011 14:09 |
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I can find a re-use for almost everything, not all the time but I find it handy to have a collection of what could otherwise end up as landfill set aside for when the occasion arises.
 Today, I was planting seeds and potting on seedlings. My "under plastic" space is tight at the moment so I use it as economically as possibly. This sometimes means having to 'pot on' twice instead of once for seedlings before they go out into the garden.
Childs' Play
Sometimes it feels like childs play and I gain satisfaction from finding alternative uses for items that would otherwise be discarded. I've used toilet roll inserts initially to get the seeds started, these are then potted on to olive spread cartons. The nice neat plant labels are cut from the lid of the olive spread carton.
I have often recycled cartons from a Chinese take-away to plant in and the card lid is ideal for cutting into plant label size strips, these have a plastic coating and can be labelled with an permanent marker to last for the life of the seedling.
While I'm always conscience of packaging when I'm buying groceries it is inevitable that occasionally I end up with a plastic tray of some description or other. These generally end up as seed trays.
No cost in any of this. Scissors, permanent marker - job done!!
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