With a few simple steps, Don showed how to transform plastic 'jelly' carry bags into sensational pots for plants.

You'll need

jelly bags
buttons
galvanised tie wire
cordless drill
ruler or measuring tape
pen/marker
potting mix
plants

How it was done

1. Don drilled two drainage holes in the bottom of each jelly bag. (Tip: make the holes big enough to fit a finger through.)
2. Don attached buttons and some wire so that the sides of the jelly bags would hold together when filled with potting mix. Using a ruler, he measured the distance from the centre of the handle to the base of each bag, and placed a mark 2/3 up from the base. From this 2/3 mark he then measured across the widest point of the bag. This measurement was divided by 3 to get the positions for the two buttons. The process was repeated for the other side.
3. Each pair of buttons was held in position with a length of galvanised tie wire, threaded through the buttons on the exterior of the bag then threaded back through the interior of the bag.
4. Don chose a selection of plants to put in the jelly bags, including Hardenbergia ‘Candy Wrapper’, Echeveria ‘Cinderella’, statice (Limonium perezii) and baby’s tears (Soleirolia soleirolii).
5. The next step was to partially fill each bag with potting mix and sit the plants at the correct level. More potting mix was then added around the root balls, taking care not to build the soil up around the stems. Finally the plants were watered in well.

Further information

Jelly carry baskets cost $6 - $13 from Howards Storage World. Phone (02) 9984 1100 or visit www.howardsstorageworld.com.au

Hardenbergia ‘Candy Wrapper’ costs about $25 for a 170mm (7") pot.
Echeveria ‘Cinderella’ costs about $17 for a 140mm (5") pot.
Statice (Limonium perezii) costs about $13 for a 140mm (5") pot.
Baby’s tears (Soleirolia soleirolii) costs about $23 for a 200mm (8") pot.

Copyright CTC Productions 2004