Wednesday, January 16, 2008

collecting plastic bottles

I'm going to try winter planting this year in plastic milk bottles. (Several bloggers have posted about doing this recently: wintersown.org, My Skinny Garden, Old Roses.) So, since it was recycling day in my town yesterday, I drove around and collected a dozen empty one gallon milk bottles. I have ordered a few types of seeds that I hope will do well with this simple method of planting:
Purple coneflower (Echinacea)
Zebrina hollyhock
Rudbeckia

I'm wondering if any vegetables/herbs would do well:
onions (from seed)
dill
lettuce
beets

S&P
winterplanting

4 comments:

Kristi said...

I've had luck with lettuce and onions. But I also live in zone 9 and we don't have as many nights below 32 degrees.

OldRoses said...

I don't know about the veggies and herbs, but the flowers will do fine. Great idea to collect containers on recycling day!

Meg said...

I've seen a couple blog posts about this lately as well, and I'm excited to try. However, I grow lots more vegetables and herbs than flowers, so like you I'd be interested to try out this method with some edibles.

Not So Crafty--I'm glad to hear that onions did well for you. I wonder if keeping the jug close to the house at night or in the shed would help keep them from getting too super cold? hmm...

kathy said...

I think I'll do some experimenting with vegetables. I think veggies that reseed on their own in the spring will work: especially dill. (Even tomatoes volunteer, but they need an extended season, so I'll plant them inside.) I'll try my cold hardy veggies: beets, carrots, parsnips, onions, kale, and lettuce. Just a few seeds...