Hi Sue,

I used a lot of soda bottles last year and I loved them! They are easy to prep and you can have the soil deeper for better root growth aaannnnddd I was recycling, which I'm not very good at! Unfortunately, I don't drink soda so I'll need to use something else again this year. Last year I used dunkin donut cups, the clear ones with the clear covers and they worked great too. I think they took a little longer to germinate but the end result was them same :>

I've also used 16oz styrofoam cups with great results and a bulb planting tool makes the perfect sized hole to just plunk and run! I probably should have split the cups in two because the clumps of these are massive now.

Good Luck!
Lisa

Lisa

The 24 and 20 oz bottles work okay though I prefer the 2L as it is easier to get the seedlings out of the 2Ls for me.

They will work fine, but I prefer containers that are a little larger. It does make them easier to prep for sowing and easier to fit your hand in when planting out.

Sue, thanks for posting this question. I had the exact same one :) I have a mixture of milk jugs, 2 liters and 20 ounce. I figured I would try them all out but it is nice to get others feedback.

Sue, I use quite a lot of these small pop bottles along with my 2 litres, especially when I only want a few plants, or when I sow single seeds. In particular I use them for sowing Canna lilies (which I grow from seed every year) - Sunflowers; tomatoes, salvias; peppers. I also use them indoors when I have to grow things under the lights to protect the plants from whitefly and/or aphids which I invariably have. The size is not a problem as I have a handy planting out 'tool', a little hand spade I bought from Lee Valley. Gets into any sized container, into all the little curves and and does a good job.

Thanks everyone for the input. After cutting and sowing a few I'll probably find the best height for them to be cut. I figure by the time I get them out of the bottles (since I stay so busy and am such a procrastinator), that they will have a massive root system holding all the soil together and they will pop right out.

Sue

I used these last year and they worked out fine. The only drawback was they weren't very heavy so wind would knock them over sometimes. But I just snugged them up between other jugs.

I used some 1 LTR bottles, along with the 2 LTR. I don't drink soda either, but I do drink the Adirondack flavored spritzer water. Their 1 LTR bottles have the same shape with the straight edges, as the 2 LTR bottles.

I use the smaller containers for the warm-season annuals and veggies and put them in a different location, along the foundation of the house on the south side. It's warmer than where the other WS containers are. For these smaller containers, which dry out faster than bigger containers, I put them inside a plastic box so that they are easy to water from the bottom by filling the box.

Here's a pic -

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Thanks all. Good picture. My old refrigerator trays will be put to good use once again, like yours are. You just can't have too many good versatile free containers like that, can you?

I'm going to have to set mine within the posts of the grape arbor and put chicken wire around everything. I know if I don't that Ellie will think all that plastic ware is just for her to drag around and chew on in spite of all she has everywhere that is all hers.

This is little Ellie, still damp with dew and grass clippings after I she had been 'dropped' and made her way to my house in the middle of the night last June.

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Sue

Aaw she's so cute, and from seeing all those toys she's a spoiled little princess too.
:)Laura

Ellie is very cute - she just showed up at your house?

Yes, those are the drawers from my old refrigerator - I figured they could be used for something - perfect for winter sowing.

Winter sowers look like junk collectors! Between my refrigerator drawers, Cup o noodles cups, milk jugs, etc. LOL! I don't use plastic silverware for markers though - don't like the look of the garish white plastic in the garden.

Ellie is very cute - she just showed up at your house?
Yes, it was about 1 AM, and I was playing on the computer when I heard an awful carrying on outside, like something was getting whooped up on. I went out and Kiley, my bruiser like furbaby, was standing over her, Ellie laying there on her back, half scared to death. Before my eyes had time to focus to the night time with the porch light, I initially thought she was a opossum! Once my eyes adjusted, I saw it was a little puppy, and I swept her up, and brought her in and wrapped her in a towel.

I tried to find her a good home, and couldn't and then couldn't bear to take her to the shelter.

I think she was 'sent' to me, as about a month or so later, one of my furbabies got sick and died. While no furbaby can ever really replace another one, she did help ease the pain of the one crossing over the rainbow bridge.