What did you do in the garden today?

[jerryse]

Morning . Big chill for awhile . Candled my eggs 12 good out of 14 . 2 were probably chilled too much before I collected them . Set 11 more .

 

[igorsMistress]

Morning . Big chill for awhile . Candled my eggs 12 good out of 14 . 2 were probably chilled too much before I collected them . Set 11 more .

Good luck! I hat are you hatching?

 

[RoseHawke]

Anyone ever grown transplants in cans? You know, like a clean soup or veg can? We have so many, eventually meant for the scrap recycling yard, but if I can get another use out of them I'd just as soon. The only thing I'm really concerned about is how easy it's going to be to remove the transplants from the can(s) since they're ridged and not smooth like a plastic pot.

 

[Artichoke Lover]

Anyone ever grown transplants in cans? You know, like a clean soup or veg can? We have so many, eventually meant for the scrap recycling yard, but if I can get another use out of them I'd just as soon. The only thing I'm really concerned about is how easy it's going to be to remove the transplants from the can(s) since they're ridged and not smooth like a plastic pot.

I do it every year! They can be a little harder to get out than something with smooth sides but not by much. Just be gentle taking them out and you shouldn’t have a problem.

 

[3xhhheather]

View attachment 2516150

What variety of dill is that?!

 

[RoseHawke]

I do it every year! They can be a little harder to get out than something with smooth sides but not by much. Just be gentle taking them out and you shouldn’t have a problem.

Excellent! Good to know it's doable!

 

[Sally PB]

Anyone ever grown transplants in cans? You know, like a clean soup or veg can? We have so many, eventually meant for the scrap recycling yard, but if I can get another use out of them I'd just as soon. The only thing I'm really concerned about is how easy it's going to be to remove the transplants from the can(s) since they're ridged and not smooth like a plastic pot.

Here's my potting trick for 1)not buying pots and 2)not disturbing roots when you transplant.

Any plastic container with a snap-on type lid will work, like the coffee container below. Cut off the bottom, like in the second picture. Put the lid back on and turn it upside down. Now you have a pot. Fill with potting soil, plant your seeds, wait. Water carefully, as there is no real drainage! (More on that below.) At transplant time, remove the lid which is the bottom of the pot, loosen the soil, and slide the container off.

A large cottage cheese or yogurt container works even better, as the sides are smooth. There is some draft (the taper on the container) to make it come free more easily, as the wider top of the container is the bottom of the pot.

About drainage... One year, I lined the pots with brown kraft paper and left about 1/4" sticking up above the soil. That can act as a wick to keep moisture from pooling in the bottom. I didn't do it the next year and didn't notice any plant loses from lack of drainage.

Using soup cans... I've done that too and used tape to hold the bottom on. I don't any more because you used to be able to use a can opener and cut off the bottom. Since they've redesigned cans to stack better, you can't cut the bottom off. Ditto with old style metal coffee cans.

 

[Artichoke Lover]

It’s also easy to poke drainage holes in the bottom of can with a big nail and hammer. @Sally PB what kind of plants are you starting in those I’ve considered doing that but my tomatoes and peppers are always way to big to slide out the bottom like that.

 

[Sally PB]

@Artichoke Lover, good point about poking holes in the bottoms.

I start anything I'm not planting directly in the ground in pots like this. Tomatoes, peppers, melons. My peppers are rarely very big when it's transplant time, so there is no problem getting the pot up and over. Tomatoes too. Melons are the hardest, since they are vines, but I've managed to do it. That's when I really miss those big old metal coffee cans I used to do this with.

Since I'm in Michigan, I'm planting about the middle of April in the green house. It'll be chilly enough that plants won't grow very big in the 6-8 weeks before transplant time.

 

[RoseHawke]

Yeah, I've on spec moved a couple of young cabbage seedlings to a couple of cans in which I did punch plenty of holes with a 16d nail. We try not to buy anything in plastic if possible, we're very "anti-plastic" but the cowpots and such can get very expensive very quickly and I've already got beaucoup metal cans waiting for recycling.