Transplant Pots

I took these pictures back in March when it was actually useful to transplant.  Now that it's May, it's a little late but maybe you can tuck this away for next year.

Biodegradable Transplant Containers

You will need:

• Scissors
• Newspaper
• A bottle
• Tape or liquid glue
• Soil
• Seeds

Soil pictured far right. I'm pretty sure I was sitting on the seed packets.

Instructions:

1. Wrap the newspaper tightly around the bottle. 
2. Glue or tape the paper to itself to form a cylinder. If you use tape, you'll want to remove the tape later when you transplant into the garden.
3. Slide the bottle out of the paper tube carefully
4. Fold one end of the paper cylinder closed and tape or glue shut.  
5. Cut of the excess tube. You want your pot to be about 6-8 inches tall.
6. Fill with soil.* 
7. Plant seeds according to seed packet instructions. Water, etc. You're done!

*Note: With some plants, like tomatoes, burying the plant stem partially helps the plant develop a strong root system. To aid this, don't fill up your pot all the way to the top with soil.  Leave 1-2 inches free so that when your plants grow past the top of the pot, you can add more soil to the pot to bury the stem.

Finished tube for tomatoes. 

Window sprouting line-up. The ghost peppers belong to my husband. They never did sprout.

Stay sunny,

Christine

Garden Beans

Beans always win in the category "Most Fun to Watch Sprout."

Go green,

Christine

Back to Basics

Although January 7th is about 3-4 months before zone 6-7's last frost date, some plants can be started whenever you'd like. I've decided to start a crop of basil indoors now. I can transplant it all to the garden in May or continue to grow it indoors.

I'll be tracking the growth of the basil from planting to germination to centimeters high. Hopefully other container gardeners will find this information helpful.

So here we are: Jan 7th, 2013 at 1 pm. Approximately 8-10 basil seeds have been planted in a 9 cm tall, 12 cm wide pott with Miracle grow potting soil and about 4 tbsp of water.