Post-Easter Planting

Early this spring we hoed the garden and covered it with cardboard given to us by Costco.

While the garden plot lay dormant, we planted seeds in various little containers inside and set them in window sills. Containers included:

• peanut jars, 
• grapefruit jars, 
• pickle jars, 
• ice cube trays, 
• Chinese takeout containers, 
• bought tin planters, 
• soup cans, 
• and tea boxes. 

Surprisingly, the container that boosted growth the most was the stout pickle jar. Its glass walls acted like a mini-cloche so that the sunflower seeds in it germinated quickly and soon looked ready to bust out of there. They are by far the healthiest-looking seedlings, off to a great start. Of course, I had to be careful to shelter the pickle jar from rain once I set it outside to harden off. With many of the containers, I didn't bother to poke holes in the bottom and simply took care not to over-water. I think I won't try ice cube containers again. They're too shallow and it's not that easy to get the seedlings out, so they were a dud.

That said, perhaps the niftiest way to grow seedlings is in Chinese takeout containers. The seedlings below are, I believe, Gypsophila, or baby's breath.

Starting them in Chinese takeout containers has a few advantages. They look neat, they can fit neatly on a window sill, they are easy to carry around, and as you will see in the photos below, the container when opened provides a nice little tray on which to separate the little plants once you are ready to put them in the ground. 

Bend the wire off one side. 

Gently spread the sides down around the plants and divide.

Since they're made of paper, I set the containers on little white plastic trays just in case water did seep through. A drawback to using Chinese takeout containers, however, is that the inside is treated with a water repellent that I don't believe the plants appreciated. They were healthy but not overly robust like the sunflowers that had been sown inside a pickle jar.