Paper Pots
Some herbs and vegies definitely grow best from seeds planted where you want them to grow.
They hate being transplanted. There’s an easy way to get around this problem and that’s to plant seeds in biodegradable pots. There are plenty on the market or you could simply make your own. Here are a couple of ideas to try.
The cardboard tube of a toilet roll is perfect to plants seeds into. It’s simple, just push some tissue inside the tube and that forms a base, then you add a good quality potting mix and put your seed in so it’s lightly covered with the mix (we used Pea seeds).
Tip: if you’re using moist potting mix, you won’t need to water the seeds until the shoot comes up, otherwise moisten with a fine spray. Once the seeds sprout, keep on misting the seedlings to keep the soil moist and let them grow on for a few weeks more, moving them into a bit more sunshine as they get bigger. By this stage all that watering will have softened the pots, too. When the seedlings are growing well and about 8cm tall, plant the whole pot into the soil, so the top of the pot is at soil level. When you plant out your seedling in its biodegradable pot, water it well with Seasol (to encourage vigorous root growth) and it will belt along for you.
Here’s another option. We also used a newspaper pot maker (that you can purchase online). The idea is to wrap, not too tightly, some paper around the top of the press, then tuck the bottom bits in and press the base on the bottom of the pot firmly to help it stay in shape. Take the pot off the top of the press, fill with potting mix and insert a seed.
Reusing is always better than recycling.
Tip for growing peas: peas need lime to grow well. We used a liquid lime, as we find it’s better than the ordinary powder lime which is just bits of rock that doesn’t really break down very well. When growing peas, go for Sugar Snap Peas, they’re much better than Snow Peas. You still eat the whole pod, it’s crunchy, but not stringy. The kids will eat them straight off the plant!
Sowing tip: most seed packets have the info you need on the back of the packet to tell you how deep to plant each seed. And always check the ‘sow by’ date to make sure the seeds are still fresh.
