Re-potting Plants

About five or six weeks ago, I planted a whole bunch of seeds in some old pots.

Basil - Having had a bad experience with it in the past (I did not know mould could look like a slime monster), I put the basil seeds (Sweet, Genovese and Lemon) in a special container covered with a transparent plastic bag tied down with an elastic band, under an energy efficient light bulb. Tada! Almost all the seeds grew (if I had known I probably wouldn’t have planted them so close together).

Lupins, Sunflowers and Zinnia - For the rest, I simply put 3 or four seeds spread out in small pots and hoped for the best in the windowsill. The sunflowers practically flew out of their containers and I had to re-pot those weeks ago. As for the rest, I did them today.

After a fair bit of nagging, I convinced my boyfriend to carry home a bag of potting soil after a long hard day at work from the garden centre about 25 minutes away. Little did I know it before we had 30L of soil on hand! Needless to say, I have much to spare and I’ll be shelling it out on demand.

A pretty messy affair, I was sure to wear an apron and lay down some newspaper, goodbye to a negative article about the state of affairs in Nunavut. I’ve always liked gardening with a spoon and felt silly buying utensils to do the gardening. I mean, unless you’re digging up a hole big enough for a tree, who needs anything more?

And then for the most important part, the watering! This soil was pretty good, quite moist but often I’ve had experiences re-potting things where you look over 5 minutes after watering it and it’s wilted over. Sad sight! So be sure to give your plants a good watering, being uprooted takes a lot out of ‘em.

In the picture on the right is a little shenanigan I discovered a few weeks ago that is great for not drowning a wee little plant and attaches right on to the average plastic bottle. This has come in extremely handy throughout the lifespan of my seedlings.

And presto, you have grown your own herb garden! If you ask me, there’s nothing more satisfying than seeing your little plants pop up.

You should know that a few seeds go a long way! Our windowsill has now been overtaken by my new plants. And I know a few mothers who are going to have an extra plant next Sunday for Mothers' Day...