From Little Things.....

Well was surprised by little tomato sprouts today!

These were from a grape tomato that went squishy in my fridge, so I just squeezed the seeds into some potting mix I found at the back of my laundry cupboard (don't ask me why it was there) and despite being told they wouldn't grow, today I have little tomato plants!

I also read about making seedraising tubes from newspaper, so after a bit of googling found 3 lots of different instructions. Have settled on the easiest method:

Take one full sheet of newspaper and fold it in half lengthwise. Fold it in half lengthwise a second time. This should give you a long narrow strip of paper.

Starting at one end, roll the paper around a glass. Any kind of glass will generally work. Iused a fairly narrow one. The wrapping doesn't have to be perfect, so it is an easy step for kids to do, especially if you use plastic cups instead of glass.

Push the ends of the paper into the glass. Then remove the glass through the open end. Push the bottom of the glass into the newspaper pot to squish the bottom and flatten it. Take the glass back out and you have your finished pot. Just fill with soil and plant your seeds. The newspaper will break down nicely in the soil when it comes time to add the seedlings to your garden.

When sprouted enough, these can then be planted directly into the ground, and the paper will break down. Apparently this avoids seedlings going into transplant shock - all for the sake of a piece of newspaper - sounds good to me.

This is a piccy of my newspaper pots, planted with mixed lettuce seeds. According to the packet they should sprout in 7-10 days - keep your fingers crossed for me!

The tray they are sitting in is a re-cycled meat tray, which I have stuck icypole sticks into the edge, and covered loosly with a plastic bag to keep the warmth in.

Once again, have no idea if this is the right thing to do, but will give it a burl!

A friend has given me a heap of seed packets, cucumbers, beans, peas, capsicum - heaps of different ones, so I can see myself making lots of little seed pots over the next few days!