Friday 17 April 2015

Creating a garden in the desert. Part 3 Making newspaper plant pots


My seedlings are growing better than I could've ever imagined. I'm not a gardener and in the past I've tried growing many plants and fruit & veg, to very little success. Usually because I get bored. My biggest excuse comes when it's time to water, but in this garden there are numerous garden taps making it easier to remember to water and with this being Dubai it's too hot in the house so I'm spending much more time outside in the evenings.

I've run out of coir pots, I've used some yogurt pots and cut plastic bottles down to sew the seedlings in, but as I'm planting directly into the sand, I want to be able to plant the seedlings with as much of their root and soil as possible. 

I don't have access to a car in the daytime and the garden centres involve a walk, bus, train and another walk to reach them. i do get a taxi back with my purchases of compost etc, but having googled how to make my own pots for planting I came across several websites and you tube videos showing me how to do it myself, saving time on travel, the stress of the heat and money.

I used an empty drinks can, ribbon (didn't have any string) a box to store them in and newspaper cut into strips (3 strips per pot) 

After that it was simple

Roll the newspaper round the can
Remove the can
Tie the ribbon
Fold the bottom
Fill with soil, transfer the seedling and add water


The garden is doing really well, haven't lost a single plant. The plants are in full sun 90% of the day.
I have been concerned when watering which I only do at night and first thing in the morning as the temperature from the outside tap is 38c currently.

I have some new Petunia seedlings growing, some I planted in pots and there are some in the ground that have started to grow since I've been watering the sand. No idea what they are though.


26 comments:

  1. I have long given up trying to grow my own vegetables as I am truly hopeless at it. I have an abundance of cacti though (low maintenance) and I can manage to grow sprouts for salad, other than that I buy local stuff that is grown round here and my Dad's a bit of a dab hand in the garden, so passes stuff our way.

    Those paper pots are so clever and cheap to make. It is amazing what we can turn our hands too when needs be!

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    1. ive not tired veg yet, but I'm away next week for a fortnight and again in june and july for 3 weeks so i'll give them a go when i return

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  2. It's amazing that despite the heat you haven't lost a single plant - you are obviously a cracking plant-mamma! I find it hard to comprehend just hot hot it is there as I sit here in my cardigan so the thermometer helped. I love the idea of making your own pots and recycling newspaper this way so I'll have a go myself for some seedlings I need to plant too - thankyou for the inspiration (and for joining in again of course) x

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    1. they dont seem to do recycling here in Dubai so I'm trying to cut down on the waste as much as possible. i think it's more luck than judgement with the plants but i'm relying on hubby to nag me to water them daily

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  3. I'm so impressed, I wouldn't know where to start with your garden!

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    1. the public verges have a variety of plants growing in the sand, so i took note of what they were

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  4. Sorry if this has now appear 3 times Google was being a pain.
    The paper tubes are great I use them and I also use empty loo roll, I think your have real talent with gardening to be against the Heat and sand and I hope you keep posting pictures of your garden

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    1. thank you, this is the first time I've got this far with attempting a garden anywhere

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  5. I love these pots, before I had the children I did a little bit of gardening. I always used these pots for my seedlings, you can plant them straight into a bigger pot or into the ground without disturbing the roots because they will naturally rot down. Fabulous :)

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    1. that's the best thing planting them out with some soil

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  6. I'm really excited to see how your garden turns out. :-)

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    1. thank you Lousia, Im away for two weeks now and relying on hubby to do the watering

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  7. I love the bows! It is great to see how we all have to deal with such different conditions but it is the heart that makes a gardener the world over. good luck, it looks as if you will have amazin rewards.

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    1. well I'm certainly enjoying myself in the garden right now

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  8. Oh my word how amazing. Sounds like you're having a good time in the garden and well done for doing it in such hot conditions. Absolutely love the idea of these, just brilliant :)

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    1. thank you, hubby and i visited a garden centre today to get some more ideas

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  9. 38 degrees from the tap! It hadn't even occurred to me that this would be one of the challenges, your garden is doing so well. I've never made my own plant pots - and I run out every year and never learn, I need to get cracking don't I!

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    1. the biggest challenge is trying to have a cold shower

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  10. your little paper pots are so clever!

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    1. thank you, they were quite fun to make also

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  11. I love watching this project. Completely different environment and experience. My grandad used to make paper pots for his seedlings. Thanks for reminding me of that. Keep up the watering you are doing great.

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    1. thank you, i'm having a lot of fun experimenting with what will grow in the sand over here

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  12. I have to admit I have never made these as I seem to end up with so many plastic pots from plants I buy and so I reuse those .... and newspaper is more valuable to me as a fire lighting resource as we don't get many in France. #GoingGreen

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    1. plastic pots just disintegrate from the heat here

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