PAPER POTS AND SEEDLINGS

 The greenhouse is full of small plants, seedlings and seeds sprouting.  I seem to have planted everything at once.  It was too cold in there until a couple of weeks ago, had decided not to heat it this year, as we spent a fortune of paraffin last year. It has been so warm this week that I have had to water every evening, disaster if these little seedlings dry out,they never recover and that means having to start again.

Have sown quite a few flowers including sunflowers, cosmos, morning glory and salvias.  Also have a dahlia tuber in a pot and some chrysanthemum cuttings.

The cucumbers are doing well, sprung up in just a few days, also have leeks, brussel sprouts, cabbages, sprouting broccoli, tomatoes, melons, dill, lettuce, parsley and basil.

Have just sown some french beans, pumpkins and 3 different types of courgette - Romanesco, which is a stripey long one, All Green bush, which is just a plain green one, but the seed was free and Pattypan which is the one shaped like a flying saucer, I have never grown this type before and never eaten them, so will have to wait and see if they are worth it!

 The sweet peas are ready to go out, will start hardening them off from tomorrow and then hope to get them planted very soon. I grow them in loo rolls, which I save all year round.

I try and reuse, re-purpose and recycle as much as I can.  I keep all the plastic trays that come with food in them (as much as I try not to buy things in these trays I still have ended up with loads of them)  Although I have probably had some of these trays for at least 3 years.  I just wash them out and reuse them, the same for flower pots and plant labels.  I try to keep on top of this job, otherwise I end up with a huge pile dirty of pots by the back door and then the wind blows them all over the garden.  But I find it really annoying going to use a pot and find that it is dirty and I have to wash it before I use it.

My Mum gave me this handy little gadget for my birthday 4 years ago and I must have made hundreds of flower pots with it.  Just tear up some strips of newspaper

Wind the strip tightly around the tube

 Fold over the ends

Push it hard into the bottom bit and hey presto

A flower pot - great for sowing large seeds like sunflowers or for potting on seedlings like tomatoes or cabbages.  You can plant straight into the ground with out disturbing the roots and re-purposing some old newspapers - best of all not pots to wash up!