Roma Kerr, Class III
Photo by Roma Kerr
What you need:
Seeds
Pots: glass jars, plastic containers with lids, or clay pots.
Dirt or potting mix
A shelf/table/a patch of empty floor/windowsill with sunlight.
Stones* (this is optional if you’re using clay pots or plastic containers with lids)
Water
*Be careful if you’re buying stones to choose ones that are actually stone. If you get plastic stones they could poison your plant, as could painted ones. Glass marbles are fine if they’re not painted, they’ll do exactly the same job as normal stones.
If you’re using glass jars:
Choose the largest jars you have. Put a layer, at least 1-2’’ deep of stones at the bottom.
If you’re using plastic containers with lids:
Choose the largest, tallest containers you have. Remove the lids and drill several holes at the bottom of the container. You can do this with scissors or a boxcutter by stabbing it and rounding out the hole. If you have an electric drill that will do the job more quickly. Use a small drill bit to make the hole first, then enlarge the hole with a larger drill bit. This will minimize cracking. Be aware that some plastics aren’t as co-operative as others and will crack, becoming unusable. (If you’re using an electric drill, try poking a hole manually first. If the plastic cracks, it’s best not to find that out using a high-speed drill.)
Preparation:
Fill your pots with potting mix to ½ to 2 inches from the top. If the soil is very loose, push it down gently with your fingers to compact it. Place the container on its lid so that when the pot drains, the water pools there rather than on your windowsill. Optional: add an inch or two of stones at the bottom for drainage (if there’s space).
Sowing:
Different seeds have different needs, so follow the instructions for sowing on the seed packet. Lots of packets will instruct you to sow outside or during a particular season, but mostly they’ll be fine inside, in a pot, at any time of year. Don’t be intimidated by all the unnecessarily complicated instructions unless you’re planning on running a farm. The packet will tell you the distance you should leave between your seeds. If the distances between the seeds need to be huge, plant only one seed in the pot. Particularly large plants, like carrots or cabbages, can’t be grown in a pot, but it’s usually pretty obvious. For small plants, like herbs and salad leaves, you can sow more seeds closer together than the packet instructs to fit more in your pot. If the plants become too crowded later on, you can thin them out by simply pulling out plants in areas with too many. For things like salad leaves, the plants you pull out will be a delicious, if minuscule, snack.
Germination:
For seeds to germinate, all they really need is water and warmth, so you’ll need to keep them damp in somewhere nice and warm until shoots start to form. Ideally, you’ll want to put them somewhere sunny from the beginning, so the shoots will get light as soon as they sprout, and you won’t have to move them.
This may not be strictly necessary, but before the seeds germinated, I watered them with a spray bottle to make sure I didn’t make them sink further into the soil. Once they’ve germinated, your plants will need a lot more water, so it isn’t practical to continue watering them with a spray bottle.
Growing:
Once the shoots have germinated, water them once or twice a day. Each time, add water until some pools under the pot. If you’re using jars, water until you can see water at the bottom of the jar among the stones. It’s important to pour a little bit at a time, giving the water time to settle, or you risk flooding the plants. If you add too much water, the roots are either drowned, or it overflows the plate under the pot.
Harvesting:
The seed packet will provide instructions on when specific plants are ready to harvest. Because your plants are in a small pot, this might mean you want to harvest a bit earlier. In this case, just pull them out when they’re overflowing from the pot or squishing their pot mates.
Have fun!
A note on using plastic containers
Plastic falls apart after a while, especially if it’s in contact with water. If you’re growing plants you plan to eat, don’t use plastic containers over and over again, and discard them as soon as they start to degrade.
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