Baby Plants A'Plenty

"Recycled" materials make great starter flats if you don't have lots of money or time to spend making the ones you see in the gardening books. Just lay an empty orange juice carton on its side and cut one side out, so that the juice-pouring opening faces up (you lose less dirt and water that way). Then bash several holes in the bottom with a knife for drainage. Then fill with your potting medium, wet appropriately, and you are on your way. If you're like us, and you drink a lot of OJ, or if you consume other beverages from cardboard or plastic containers, they can really come in handy- and they work. Last week-end I planted 2 kinds of carrots, a lettuce blend, Detroit red beets, marigolds, Tokyo bunching onions, and nasturtiums. I move them along with the broccoli and cauliflower starts into the garage at night to protect from slugs, and out in the daytime for sun. Everything is up now but the nasturtiums. Wow! That is MUCH faster germination than I got in the basement in late winter. The warm temperatures (mid-80s today, so the seedlings are in a place that is shaded much of the day) really help things to germinate.