The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Gardens => Topic started by: sabrina on February 08, 2009, 08:49:25 pm
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I had a thought today as i was washing out the plastic milk bottle, it made me wonder if it would be worth starting of my veg seed in one. Making some holes in the bottom, add some compost then a seed say cabbage. Once ready to plant outside cut away the bottom of the bottle and plant in the ground leaving the bottle to protect the growing plant from slugs etc. Once a decent size remove the bottle. Do you think that would be worth trying ?? :-\
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I'm sure it would - I think the young plants are most at risk, aren't they, so if you can protect for a while all to the good.
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hi there ive submitted a post in the vegetable section regarding the plastic bottle theory :hshoe:
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Hi,
I've been busily saving all the wee plastic trays that prepack food comes in with the intention of having free mini seed trays.
Also as the kids eat a fair bit of icecream (it might be the middle of winter but try telling that to a 4 year old lol!) and I reckon if I cut a big hole in the lid of the tub and line it with plastic (or cling film) I'll have mini propegators. Maybe folks are doing this already and I'm a bit slow to catch on !
Karen ;D
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I use plastic water bottles as cloches. Just cut the bottom off. Someone suggested to build a cold frame with milk bottles recently, I'll try that!
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Pictures of my "milk jug cold frame" at http://www.redbayfarm.com/Projects.html down toward the middle of the page.
Just yesterday my dad used milk jugs as cloches for tomatoes.
Personally I like to take four of the jugs and fill them with water. I use them to surround the tender plant and throw a bit of straw on top. My tomatoes just had a little bit of damage on the top leaves.
The water also holds heat absorbed during the day and warms the soil a bit to help accelerate early growth. I'll be setting out eggplant soon and will be using the same technique.
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Now, heres a strange thing.......!!
I had been saving all the plastic trays that food comes in with the intention of using them as seed trays. I had amassed quite a few in the last year.
anyway, i was sowing various seeds this year - mostly my chillis, peppers and toms.
Anyway, the ones in the "traditional" seed trays germinated with reasonable success rates however, the ones in the "food trays" did nothing!
I put several drainage holes in them, they were filled with the same compost and watered in the same routine and heated to the same extent - but did nothing!!!
So, i'm sticking to my seed trays in future.
I think using the plastic bottle idea would be a good way to protect and start off Onion/Shallot sets - birds like to pull them out the ground and if there is a lot of unexpected rain, the sets can rot, so placing a plastic bottle over them should help to give them a good start. i've jsut planted some more onion sets, so i think i'll give it a go myself and see if they turn out better/worse than normal onions.
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That's an interesting observation - I never really noticed a difference but probably because I did one of the methods for one kind of seed at the time and couldn't compare. Maybe it has to do with the temperature, as in black plastic getting warmer than food trays. :&>
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i had thought that - but these were chilli seeds, so they tend to germinate better in warmer temps.
also, i had a mix of both the clear flimsy packaging that you can't pop in the oven/micro and the black stuff that can go in the oven
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I hate to waste all the plastic milk bottles so I cut them in half long ways and use the as chicken feeder trays.they are long enough for a few hens to get around without a fall out!
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strawberry punnets are also good for starting seeds off. Living in "berry country" I get loads of of the commercial growers & have just finished 4 that had salad leaves in.
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Recycling, yes.
Bird feeders- cut a hole in the middle of them, pour in suet / bird feed mixture, hang on trees.
As others have said, use for seed trays, carrying water in the car / for car or dogs.
Wee mini cloches,
I hate them and would far rather have bottles, glass ones that is. :)
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The plastic deteriorates. I have a spot on my land which the folks next door used as a dump for decades until maybe 15 years ago. What's left...lots and lots of bottles...glass for me to cut tires or feet or hands. So, plastic is unsightly but eventually it turns to dust.
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My OH uses loo roll centres and stands them in the food trays...best of both worlds, soil kept moist by the cardboard....decent depth cos you can fill higher than the food trays height, and easy to then put out no disturbance of roots...
He tried the seeds into food tray bit a few years ago....disaster
Emma x
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The cardboard rolls didn't really work for me, they started growing mould and seeds didn't really germinate well in them. Never had a problem with food trays, though.
I thought I had posted this yesterday, but obviously forgot. A wee school in Scotland won an award for making a greenhouse out of plastic bottles. Great idea! No worries about broken glass in the storms....:&>
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Same for me with the cardboard holders with leek seeds, they got mouldy very quickly with poor germination thinking maybe I had them in there too long and too wet. Sowing straight into a 6'' pot this year seems to be going ok so far.
JD