Medicine Bottle Seed Starters
Happy Earth Day month! I’ve been working on a bunch of Earth-friendly projects this year, but I decided to start with a super simple one that is a perfect way to get kids excited about plants. I spent time yesterday learning about bees and their importance, and I’m more excited than ever to plant some flowers this year.
Last year I posted about the jewel case root viewers I did with my kids, and this year I’m going back to an old favorite way of starting seeds. This is possibly even less maintenance than the jewel cases. It’s actually something we do at all times of the year. I don’t often have my act together to start seeds on time for outdoor gardening, but as soon as the weather warms up I start feeling the itch to plant something. I like starting indoor plants this way, but I also like to put them outside in containers. I’ve had fantastic success with sunflowers in pots on the deck.
For this batch, I planted five seeds. I started some sunflowers again, so we’ll see what happens with those. A garden bean, because those always seem to do well. Both sunflowers and beans grow quickly enough that they are extra satisfying for kids to watch. (In other words, you should see some results before they have a chance to lose interest.) I also raided my seed collection to try a couple of my favorite flowers from Colorado—Columbine and paintbrush. I have no idea what will happen, but we won’t know if we don’t try!
These little seed starters are super easy to make. The only supplies you need in addition to seeds are clean medicine bottles and cotton balls!
A quick note about medicine bottles: If you don’t have any of those around, empty spice bottles also work well. If light passes through it, it should work. The labels peel off really easily from the medicine bottles, but the spice bottles will probably require a little more work. I’ve done it, though! A little Goo Gone and you should be good to go.
All you have to do is put one cotton ball in each bottle. Pour enough water on top until the cotton ball won’t absorb anymore. Put a seed in each bottle. (You may have to use your finger to move away from the edge of the bottle.) Screw the lid back onto the bottles, and carefully move them to a sunny location. That’s it!
Keep an eye on your plants to make sure that they don’t dry out, and be prepared to transplant them as soon as they outgrow their bottles. With any luck, you’ll have a little garden of your own in a matter of weeks!
To transplant the plants, you can plant the cotton ball with the roots, so it should be easy to get them out of the bottles.
I’m just getting started, but I can’t wait to fill my deck with as many flowers as possible.
