More on wintersowing

Mode73 - welcome, and thanks for following the blog!

Wintersowing sure is a fun way to propagate things. Gosh, i've saved so many 2 liter drink bottles - that I have literally ran out of shelf space in the little playhouse for housing them. Of course, everytime I see an empty container of some kind these days, it makes me wonder if I can sow something in it. Gosh, I almost stopped the truck the other day, because of an empty 2 liter drink bottle laying in the road. Yeah, it's pretty bad. Hehe..

Anyway, while browsing through items at a local wholesale merchandise store the other day, I ran across these clear lids that are commonly used as tops to a cold cut snack tray of some kind. At 25 cents each, I had to snag a few. In the photo below, you can see that 2 of them were fastened at the edges by foil tape, which gives me a total height of 7" to plant in. Clear packing tape will be used to seal off the remaining cracks. I also drilled a few drain holes in the bottom, and cut out the top portion.

Photo below - A third piece with holes drilled into it is placed on top, creating the finished product. At 16" in diameter and 7" deep, this is a pretty big container for wintersowing. It only cost 75 cents, and this thing is ready for lots of flowers of some kind. Woohoo!

Photo below - here's the containers that Austin sowed with spinach and collards a while back. There's sprouts in the bottle already, but nothing in the other container. I think it's really cool how the condensation forms on the inside. Now if I could find a bottle that was as big as my truck, i'd have a pretty good greenhouse. heh.

Photo below - To get the maximum sun exposure, the coldframes were shifted around a little bit. A permanent home will need to be found for them later, because I really don't like the current location. Since the property is sloped, something will need to be built for them to rest on. Always building, ya know!

We did some babysitting the other day for one of my wife's friends, and I let the little 6 year old girl wintersow some flowers in a couple of 2 liter bottles. She really enjoyed playing in the "dirt", and I told her I would bring the plants by when they start growing. Man, I can't wait to see her face when those things sprout. :-)

In closing, i'd like to say that I really appreciate the people that take time out of their day to read about what is going on around here. I'm the only person on the property that cares anything about gardening, and this blog is my way of sharing my experience with others that have the same passion as I.

Take care, and happy gardening!

EG