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Welcome to      sjefgardentips.wordpress.com,     a weblog with many gardening tips.

I started this weblog at July 13  2011.  Since then more than 4200 visits (April 30, 2013).  Thanks for visiting.

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34) Sowing leek or summer carrots using a sink mat and a “shift fall tray”

Leek or summer carrots are often sown in a group. or a row. For this kind of sowing, many seeds are put on the soil. Not too far apart, otherwise you have too few plants. Not too close, for then you have to thin out many plants later.

For easy sowing you can use a sink mat and a “shift fall tray”. In tip 33 you can read how to make or adapt these tools.

In this tip you can read how to sow leek and summer carrots and how to prepare sowing.

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Sowing in the garden soil

Leek

You can sow leek in the garden in an easy way. Make a furrow, sow and cover with garden earth. This goes well in nutritious soil that does not dry out so easy.

At sandy soil, you better sow leek in a lowered part of the garden. This area is about 40 x 35 cm, (16 x 14 inch). In a “lowered area”, soil does not dry so fast. You can easily water the soil in the “lowered area”. It indicates wher you have sown.

Below a description of sowing leek in a lowered area.

When top layer is dry, shove some dry sand aside. Otherwise dry sand can fall into the lowered area.

Lay the mat on the garden soil. Draw a line (furrow) a few inches around the mat. This line marks the size of the lowered area.  The lowered area is bigger than the mat.

Use a scoop to make the lowered area. Make it about 2 inch deep. Put the moist earth into a bucket.

Add some fine-grained (old) manure or compost to the earth in the bucket.

Mix the manure (compost) and the garden earth.

Deepen the lowered area until depth is about 4 inch. Put the garden earth that you bale out on a small heap in the garden next to the lowered area. This earth is used later to form a top layer in the lowered area.

Put some mixture of manure (compost) and garden earth into the lowered area.

Use a board or the top of a a furrow board (tip 2) to egalize the mixture in the lowered area. Put so much mixture in and egalize until top of lowered area is 2 to 3 inch below garden level.

Put some garden earth from the heap into the lowered area.

Egalize the garden earth in the lowered area. Thickness of this layer is about 1 to 2 inch. When needed add some more garden earth and equalize.

Leek seeds will be sown on this top layer of garden earth.  Seeds better not touch manure. When plants are there, the roots can find manure or compost 1 to 2 inch deeper in the soil.

Spray some tap water in the lowered area. Use a watering can with a fine shower head. Keep the shower head a few inch above the soil in the lowered area.

Put the mat in the lowered area when the earth has dried somewhat (when water has disappeared into the earth). Sow the leek using a shift fall tray.

When a seed has fallen next to the hole of the mat, use fingers or tweezers or a little stick to shift the seed into the hole.

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After sowing remove the mat carefully without shifting the mat. Otherwise seeds can stick to the lower side of the mat and will be removed.

Photo of leek seeds. Each group contains one seed (exept one group at the top of the photo). Seeds are lying “apart”.

Strew a thin layer of crumbled moist garden earth on the seeds. Strew carefully to prevent seeds from shifting or moving.

To prevent earth and seeds from drying out, lay a board or so over the lowered area.

For example a dinner-tray upside down. Take care of a small air opening at the edge of the dinner-tray.

Or use a stepping board. Again take care of an air opening.

Remove board or dinner -tray when first leek plants are just visible.

Sowing leek using the mat and the shift fall tray goes fast. I succeeded to sow 80 seeds in about 200 seconds (2.5 seconds per seed).

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Summer carrots in a group.

Summer carrots are sown in loose garden earth. Carrots grow well in earth that has been manured previous year. The nutrients that are left in the earth from last year are okay for growing carrots.

Below a description of sowing carrots in a lowered area. In a lowered area, soil does not dry out so fast and it is easy watering the plants in that area without water “flowing away”.

Loose the soil using a pitch fork or so.

When top layer is dry, shove some dry sand aside. Otherwise dry sand can fall into the lowered area.

Lay the mat on the garden soil. Draw a line (furrow) a few inches around the mat. This line marks the size of the lowered area.  The lowered area is bigger than the mat.

Use a wooden lath or so to make the lowered area. Make it about 2 inch deep. Shove the moist earth aside of put it into a bucket.

Spray some tap water in the lowered area. Use a watering can with a fine shower head. Keep the shower head a few inch above the soil in the lowered area.

Put the mat in the lowered area when the earth has dried somewhat (when water has disappeared into the earth). Sow the summer carrots using a shift fall tray.

When a seed has fallen next to the hole of the mat, use fingers or tweezers or a little stick to shift the seed into the hole. In most holes there is 1 seed, in some there are 2 seeds.

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After sowing remove the mat carefully without shifting the mat. Otherwise seeds can stick to the lower side of the mat and will be removed.

Photo of carrot seeds. Each group contains one or two seeds. Groups are lying “apart”.

Strew a thin layer of crumbled moist garden earth on the seeds. Strew carefully to prevent seeds from shifting or moving.

To prevent earth and seeds from drying out, lay a board or so over the lowered area.

For example a dinner-tray upside down. Take care of a small air opening at the edge of the dinner-tray.

Remove dinner -tray when first carrot plants are just visible.

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Remark:

Carrot seeds are small and light. Wait 1 or 2 seconds after a seed has fallen into the tube before putting the tube on the next hole of the mat. About 85 % of new carrot seeds germinate. You can drop 2 carrot seeds in a few holes of the mat.

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Summer carrots in 3 rows.

You can sow summer carrots in 3 rows next to each other. Here a description.

Loose the garden soil with a scoop or a pitch fork.  Then make a small furrow in the soil. You can use a furrow board (see tip 2).

Spray some tap water in the furrow. Use a watering can with a fine shower head. Keep the shower head a few inch above the soil in the furrow.

Put the mat in the furrow when the earth has dried somewhat (when water has disappeared into the earth). Sow the summer carrots using a shift fall tray.

After sowing remove the mat carefully without shifting the mat. Otherwise seeds can stick to the lower side of the mat and will be removed.

Photo of carrot seeds. Each group contains one sees. Groups are lying “apart”.

Put (plastic) markers at both ends of the area where the carrot seeds have been dropped.

Strew a thin layer of crumbled moist garden earth on the seeds. Strew carefully to prevent seeds from shifting or moving.

To prevent earth and seeds from drying out, lay a board or piece of corrugated plate over the furrow. Put 2 bricks on to prevent blowing away at windy weather.

Remove the cover when first carrot plants just visible.

33) A sink mat and a “shift fall tray” as seed sowing aids

Very often seeds are sown directly into the garden soil. For some plants like summer carrots you have to sow in a row. For leek you sow in a small group or in a row. Leek plants are planted out later.

For this kind of sowing, many seeds are put on the soil. Not too far apart, otherwise you have too few plants. Not too close, for then you have to thin out many plants later.

The sowing goes well when you use a sink mat. Lay the mat on the soil, catch each seed between thumb and index and drop it in a hole in the mat. This way of sowing goes slowly, because each seed must be taken from the seed bag or tray. When you use the “shift fall tray” sowing is much faster. When sowing seeds that are hard to handle, like carrot seeds, you also better use the “shift fall tray”.

The “shift fall tray” has been made by myself. It resembles the “seed shift tray” as described at tip 3. The “shift fall tray” has only one hole in the bottom. Below this hole there is a tube to lead the falling seed towards the hole in the sink mat.

In this tip, I describe how to make or adapt such a sink mat and “shift fall tray”. In tip 34 there is a description of sowing leek or summer carrots using a “shift fall tray” and a mat.

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Sink mat

On this photo a rectangular rubber sink mat, that is used in a sink. Size is about 12 x 10 inch. You can buy it in a shop for household articles. A mat of a certain brand costs about  €6,50. You can buy a mat for a lower price.  When the mat is similar to the one at the photo, you can use it.

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Shift fall tray

Here a photo of a shift fall tray. It’s a white plastic tray with a low edge. In the bottom there is a hole. Below this hole there is a plastic tube.

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Test: Sowing on silica sand

To show the results of sowing, I filled a big plastic tray with a thin layer of silica sand. Then seeds of leek or summer carrots have been put into the holes of a sink mat.

Plastic tray with a layer of silica sand.

Mat on silver sand. In the middle area of this mat, extra holes have been “added”. At the mat that you buy in a shop, some holes are missing. See photo at the start of this tip.

Strew leek seeds in a white plastic tray. Catch each seed between your fingers and drop it in a hole of the mat.

Or take each leek seed using tweezers and drop it in a hole of the mat.

Or use a plastic “drop tube”……..

…….and put the tube on a hole in the mat. Take a leek seed between fingers or use tweezers and drop the seed into the tube.

Or use the shift fall tray. Strew leek seeds in the tray. Each time put the tube of the tray on (above) a hole in the mat. Then use a finger to shift one leek seed into the hole.

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With carrot seeds you can do same ways of sowing, exept catching the seeds between thumb and index. That is (hardly) impossible. Or sowing takes a very long time.

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Sowing result on silica sand.

On these photos you can see that seeds are in a rather straight line. There are black leek seeds and greyish seeds of summer carrots.

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Making extra holes in the sink mat.

In this sink mat there are 14 rows with 12 holes each. In the middle area, holes are “missing”. Diameter of each hole is about 9 mm (1/4 inch). Pitch between holes is 2 cm (0.8 inch).

You can make extra holes using an iron “hollow punch” tool.  At one side of this tool there is a sharp round edge. At the other side you can hit on it using a hammer.

But you can also use a sharp knife to make extra (square) holes.

Put the mat upside down and mark the positions where to make extra holes. On the photo marked with ”X”.

Use a “hollow punch” of the correct size and a hammer. A set of “hollow punches” can be bought in a D.I.Y. shop. In Holland a set of 9 hollow punches with various diameters cost €10.00.

Lay the mat on a piece of wood. Put the sharp side of the punch on the mat and hit with a hammer.

On this photo you see some (6) extra holes that have been made using a punch.

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Or make extra holes using a knife.

Put the mat on a piece of wood. Use a sharp knife to cut a square hole in the mat.

This photo shows 1 square hole, cut with a knife. The piece of rubber that has been cut out is still on the mat.

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Shift fall tray, the materials. 

• A plastic tray, for example this one. It is a plastic trough as used for pigeons. Price is about €1.00.

You can also use a small plastic tray that is used to pack for example tuna fish. See further in this post.

• A small polypropene plastic water tube, shown on the righthand part of the photo above. That tube is used to put in small flowers. You can buy them at some flower shops. When they have them, you can get them for free or for a low price.

There are 2 (or more) types of water tubes. Both types are suitable. They have a widening at the top. A rubber cap with a small hole fits to it. During normal use, the stem of a flower is put through this hole into the water tube. The photo shows 2 types, the left one with a cap on it.

Below a description using the small green tube.

Further in this post a description using the large white tube.

• A plastic lunch box or similar box. Use one side of the box to saw a small plastic plate out.

But you can also use the top part of the “pigeon plastic trough” to saw the small plastic plate from.

• Small bolts, nuts and rings. The ones on the photo are 0.08 inch diameter (2 mm). You can buy them in a D.I.Y. shop.

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Making the shift fall tray. 

Below a very short description with many photos how to make the tray.

Tray

Draw line.

Saw out.

Sawn out. Remove plastic blisters with a knife or scissors.

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Plastic plate.

Cut or saw out plastic plate.

Make big hole in plastic plate.

• Using fret-saw

Use a circle template to determine the size of the hole. The water tube must fit in the hole, but not fall through. Draw a circle on the plastic plate.

Drill a small hole.

Put a fret-saw through small hole. Then fix the saw into the frame.

Saw the round piece of plastic from the plate. Remove the saw.

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• Using drill

Use wood drill and piece of wood.

Put plastic plate on wood and slowly, carefully drill the hole into the plate.

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Check if water tube fits into hole. When hole is too small or not circular, use a round file…….

…. or use the legs of scissors. Push the scissors in the hole and turn clockwise or counter clockwise to round or enlarge the hole.

Well fitting.

Draw a rectangular figure on plastic plate. Width is somewhat smaller than the width of the tray. Heighth is about 1.5 inch.

Saw out the plate. Fit it on the lower side of the tray.

Drill 2 holes in the plate.

Drill 2 holes in the bottom of the tray. Put in 2 bolts.

Drill a small hole in the tray, in the centre of the big hole.

Remove the bolts. Turn the tray.

Lay the tray on wood. Use a drill to enlarge the center hole in the bottom. Use a drill of 5 or 6 mm (1/4 inch). Remove plastic blisters.

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Water tube.

On this photo you see that sawing the tube causes a frayed end. Falling seeds can stick to the plastic blisters. Blisters are not easy to remove. Better use a sharp knife to shorten the tube.

For a good sowing result, the end of the tube must be bigger than a hole in the mat. When the tube is smaller than the hole in the mat, the tube touches the moist garden soil. The tube will be clogged during sowing.

So tube must be shortened to make a bigger diameter of the tube end.

Use a sharp knife and cut…..

…..and put the end of the tube on a hole in the mat. Determine if the diameter of the tube is somewhat bigger than the hole. When needed, repeat cutting and fitting. The tube on the photo has a good diameter.

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Assembling.

Parts of the shift fall tray.

Assemble the parts.

When you look through the tube end, you can check if the hole in the tray is about in the middle of the tube.

Finished product.

During sowing you hold the tray between thumb and fingers of one hand. With a finger of the other hand you shift each seed towards and into the hole in the tray.

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Shift fall tray, designs.

On this photo there are various trays. The left one has been described above. The middle one has a long tube. The right one has been made from a tuna package.

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Tube.

The diameter of these water tubes is about the same. So each tube fits in the big hole of a plastic plate. If not, adapt the size of the big hole in the plate.

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Tray.

You can make a tray using an empty package, for example a tuna package. Below some photos and a short description.

Use a round plastic plate.

Assembled product.

Top view.

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Remarks.

• Is such a tray, or something like this, for sale?  I haven’t found yet.
• The shift fall tray does not work so well when sowing round seeds like cabbage or radish. When you tilt the tray, all seeds roll to one side and form a group. To solve this problem I suppose to use a small piece of felt with adhesive backing. Stick it to the bottom of the tray and seeds will not roll so easy anymore. I’m going to test that later.
• When seeds stick to the tray it can be caused by static charging of the plastic. See photo below.

On this photo the tray is in upright position. Carrot seeds stick.

You can eliminate the sticking by immersion the tray + tube in diluted soap water. Take the whole out of the soap water, let drip out and dry. After drying there is a thin layer of soap on the plastic material and this prevents static charging.

Attention: do not rinse with water after immersing in soap water. When rinsing, soap layer is removed and static charging can occur again.

32) Sowing beans in pots and planting in the garden later

Jantina, a Dutch lady, has put a comment at ”Sjeftuintips” tip 12.  She writes that she sows bean seeds in coffee cups with potting soil. When bean plants are about 2 inch high, she pushes at the bottom of the cup. Then she takes out the bean plants and root ball and she puts them into the garden soil.

I wrote to Jantina that I would try this method too. I have done that and here are the results.

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Sowing bean seeds in coffe cups filled with potting soil.

Needed: empty plastic coffe cups, potting soil, empty flower pot, bean seeds.

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Potting soil loose or pressed:

Loose potting soil can dry faster then potting soil that has been pressed on. That may have effect to the germinating. I did a test to check the influence.

Each coffe cup has been filled with potting soil, about 75 % of the cup heighth.

Loose potting soil has been “densified” by tapping the bottom of the cup on a table.

At compressed potting soil, the bottom of an empty flower pot has been put on top of the potting soil in the cup. Then one has pressed on the flower pot. Pressure about 200 to 300 grams (0,5 lb).

On this photo at the left side you see a cup with loose potting soil. At the right side you see how to compress the potting soil in a coffee cup.

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Test:  

Full 4 cups with potting soil. Tap or compress the potting soil in the cups. Then lay 4 seeds on the soil in each cup.

Then strew about 0.5 inch of potting soil on the seeds. This layer has been pressed on or not.

The Dutch tekst on the beakers means this:

• “los” has been tapped before sowing. Top layer has not been pressed on.
• “los-vast” has been tapped before sowing. Top layer has been pressed on.
• “vast” has been compressed before sowing. Top layer has not been pressed on.
• “vast-vast” has been compressed before sowing. Top layer has been pressed on.

Spray tap water on the potting soil.

Cover all cups with plastic foil. Put the foil loose over the cups. So air can pass to the germinating seeds.

Much easier is putting the cups in a small greenhouse, as shown 2 photos further.

On this photo you see the 4 cups with seeds (as described above) in the back row. At these cups I sprayed water on.

I did a test by filling 4 more cups. I put in the potting soil and seeds at the same way as the first 4 cups. But at these 4 cups I did not spray water on. That may influence germinating. The 4 beakers that I did not spray on are in the front row of the photo above.

Cover all beakers by putting on the transparent top. Put the whole at 19 to 22 C (66 to 72 F).

The vent holes in the top are a little bit opened. There is air flow and the potting soil does not dry too fast.

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Plants visible.

The greenhouse with cups has been at 19 C (66 F) for 7 days. In all cups there are some beans germinating. There is no water added during the 7 days.

The bean plants in the back row (water sprayed) are somewhat bigger than in the front row (no water sprayed).

Bean plants in the “non-compressed” potting soil (most left cup in each row) are a little bit smaller than in the other cups.

Conclusion: compressing potting soil and spraying water on result to faster germinating and bigger plants

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Cool and before a window

When first “stems” of bean plants are visible, as shown on the last photo above, put the cups in a cool room and before a window.  Temperature is about 15 C, 59 F. The bean plants grow to robust plants. Regularly spray a little water on the potting soil. Adding to much water can cause rotting beans. Let the plants grow in the cups until about 4 inch above the soil.

At my first experiments I took the plants too early out of the cups (see further). So I sowed new bean seeds in potting soil, pressed on the soil and added water.

The beans on this photo have been sown in coffe cups or flower pots with potting soil. They grew against an attic window.

When the plants are bigger and temp is okay, you can put the cups and pots in the garden soil. At cold nights, put a transparent tunnel over them.

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Planting from the coffee cup into the soil

When plants are about 4 inch high, you can take them out of the cups and put them into the garden soil. This goes well when using a bulb planter.

Use the bulb planter to make a hole in the soil.  Keep the soil in the bulb planter.

Jantina’s method;  lay the cup with plants aside  on your hand. Carefully press against the bottom of the cup. Move the cup and pull the cup carefully from the root ball. The plants have a rather big root ball, as visible on the photo.

When the bean plants are big, there are many roots growing in the potting soil. You can clamp the plants without the root ball falling apart.

Put the plants in the hole in the garden soil. Then shift some earth against the plants and into the gap between root ball and hole. When needed drop some earth out of the bulb planter and shift it against the plants.  Then open the bulb planter on an “empty” place in the garden to remove the earth from the bulb planter.

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Planting from the flower pot/insert/strip into the soil

In stead of a coffee cup, you can also use a plastic flower pot with insert and strip. This type of flower pot has been described at tip 30. Fill this flower pot with potting soil and sow beans in it.

On this photo the flower pot has been filled with potting soil and there are big bean plants in. Top diameter of the flower pot is about 3.5 to 4 inch.

Take the insert out of the flower pot.

Pull the strip a few millimetres (about 1/4 inch) to above. Then release the strip. This will loosen the root ball. Take the root ball with plants from the insert with strip.

When the bean plants are big, there are many roots growing in the potting soil. You can clamp the plants without the root ball falling apart. Then you can put the plants in the hole in the garden soil.

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Planting from a lowered coffee cup into the soil.

You can cut the top part of a coffee cup. The cup gets lower then and it will contain less potting soil. The roots of the bean plants will not grow so deep to form a root ball. Maybe you can take the plants with root ball earlier out of this lowered cup than out of a normal cup. I did not (yet) test this effect; all plants in all cups have grown for the same number of days.

Take the plants out of the lowered cup using the same method as at the normal cup. There are many roots in the root ball.

Also at a lowered cup you can clamp the plants without the root ball falling apart. Then you can put the plants in the hole in the garden soil.

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Planting from a normal coffee cup containing less potting soil.

You can fill a normal coffe cup with potting soil for half of the height. The plants do not grow so deep to form a root ball. Maybe you can take the plants with root ball earlier out of this half filled cup than out of a normal filled cup.

At my test the plants did not grow so big in the half filled cup. The root ball is moist and there are few roots in. Maybe the plants got too much water or less water evaporated in this cup due to the high edge.

The root ball with plants has been put in the cup again. Let the plants grow bigger.

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Too warm or too dark

When the plants grow in a room with a high temperatuure and/or not close to a window, plants will form a thin long stem with small leaves. See photo below;

Eight days after sowing.

Nine days after sowing.

At these plants stems are 2 inch high. But the roots do not grow deep into the potting soil.

When you take the plants and root ball out of the cup, this will happen;

The plants have a small root ball. At the bottom of the cup there is loose potting soil. Root ball falls apart.

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Sowing beans in a flower pot/insert/strip with garden soil/compost mixture

You can use a mixture of garden soil and compost (1 : 1) to sow beans in. The root ball will fall apart easier, because garden soil and compost contains less fibers than potting soil.

Then it is better to use a flower pot with insert. When planting in the garden soil you can easily take the root ball out of the flower pot. But at the root ball there is a high risk of falling apart, so handle carefully.

Flower pot with insert and garden soil/compost mixture, just before taking out.

Take the insert with rott ball and plants out of the flower pot.

Lay the insert with root ball and plants on your hand. Carefully roll and turn the insert on your hand until you can take away the insert. Take away the insert and keep the root ball lying on your hand. At the root ball there is a high risk of falling apart, so handle carefully.

Keep your hand with root ball and plants near the hole in the garden soil. Carefully let the whole slide into the hole in the garden soil.

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Summerized:

Sowing beans in plastic coffee cups works well. Some things need special attention.

• When sowing in coffee cups the amount of water added is critical. Too much water can have the seeds or plants rot. Or plants grow slowly.  When adding too little water, seeds or plants can dry out or plants can grow very slowly.
• Let the plants grow in the cups until root ball contains many roots. Otherwise root ball can fall apart when planting in the soil.
• Plants must grow in a cool light room to get robust plants and big root balls.
• When using plastic flower pots with holes in the bottom, watering is less critical. So little chance of rotting seeds or plants.
• Potting soil contains many fibers. You can clamp the plants without the root ball falling apart. Easy at planting into the garden soil.
• When you sow in a garden soil/compost mixture, rott ball will easily fall apart. Use a flower pot with insert and let the root ball carefully slide into the hole in the soil.

31) A “cabbage cage” to guard cabbage plants against butterflies

During warm and sunny weather, cabbage white butterflies can visit your cabbage plants. Female butterflies lay their eggs underneath the leaves of the plants.  After some days to weeks there are caterpillars that eat a lot of plant material. The big caterpillars often “hide” in the white cauliflower or in the broccoli. Or between the leaves of Red Cabbage, Savoy Cabbage or White cabbage.

When preparing the cabbage in the kitchen, one should take care of searching and removing all caterpillars, otherwise you’ll have an unpleasant surprise on the plate.

Each day you can inspect the leaves of cabbage plants for eggs or caterpillars and remove them.

I think it’s easier to grow the cabbage plants in a “buttefly proof” cage. In this post there is a detailed description of the “cabbage cage”

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Description.

The cabbage cage consists of these parts:

1. At the sides there is metal wire netting. It has about 0.5 inch square mesh. Netting highth is about 63 cm (25 inch).
2. In each corner there is a (metal) tube in the soil.  About 25 inch of each tube is above the ground. The tubes support the wire netting.
3. A rectangular frame made of wooden laths. At each corner there is a pen. Each pen fits in a tube in the soil. This improves the robustness of the cabbage cage.
4. Nylon or plastic cord. It has been wrapped around the laths and through the meshes of the wire netting. It makes the cage “butterfly thight”.
5. Another rectangular frame made of wood. It acts as a lid. In the frame there is a net with small mesh so butterflies can not pass this net. The lid lays with 4 screws on the rectangular frame. The lid can be removed or it can be opened. A wooden lath supports the lid while opened.

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Parts.

Here is a description of the 5 parts.  There is information about making, remodeling or adaptation of the parts.

1.   Metal wire netting

On this photo the wire netting is put on the garden soil. When 4 tubes are in the garden soil, wire netting is mounted around them.

2.  Tubes

These tubes are made of aluminium. They have been used at roll-up blinds. The tubes are about 1.5 inch wide and 4 feet long.

Maybe you can buy this type of tubing at a D.I.Y. shop.    P.V.C. tubing can also be used, I think.

3.  Rectangular frame

Here a photo of the rectangular frame. It has been made of wooden laths of about 2 inch wide and 1 inch thick.

At each corner there is a plastic connecting plate and a pen.

The connecting plates are triangle shaped pices of polypropene. They have been sawn from a plastic cutting board of about 5/16inch (8 mm) thick.

In each plate there are 4 holes. The nylon or plastic cord is put through these holes during wrapping.

After assembling, at each corner, a small piece of lath has been sawn (hacksaw). This forms some space between the laths, so rain-water can flow away.

Instead of plastic connecting plates you can use metal corner braces. On this photo the rectangular frame with metal corner braces (design 2009). Metal connecting material will rust and is not so robust as polypropene.

A frame with metal corner braces is not so strong and form-retaining as with plastic plates.

Plastic plates are also useful when laying the frame on the 4 tubes in the soil. More about this at “Assembling the cage”.

For each pen you use a long wood screw, a metal nut ring and a piece of hose.

The wood screw with ring and piece of hose is screwn through a hole in the plastic plate into the wooden lath.

On this photo you see the pen fixed in the wooden lath.

Temporary remove the wood screw next to the pen at all 4 corners of the frame. This screw is not in the same lath as the pen. Now you can fold the frame. The folded frame is easy transportable. Later unfold the frame and mount all 4 screws again.

4.  Cord

Four pieces of nylon or plastic cord to fix the metal wire netting to the frame.

5.  Lid

The “lid” has been made of wooden laths of about 1 1/4 inch x 1 inch. Laths are connected to each other with metal connecting plates.

At the inner side of the frame, so at one side of each lath, there are iron nails. Distance between nails is about 3 inch. Nails will be used to fix the nat later.

The nails are in the wood sloping so later the net will not slip away so easy. The nail head is nearer to the plate than the position where the nail enters the wood. All nails are sloping in the same direction.

When you remove 1 screw in each plastic connecting plate (the right screw), you can fold the lid frame. So easy transportable.

This net has small mesh size. The butterflies will not pass.

The sticker of the net.

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Assembling the cage.

When folded, open the frame. Lay the frame on the garden soil. Put in the 4 screws that have been removed prior to “folded transport”. Do not tighten the screws.

Next step is adjusting the frame so making the frame at right angles again. Do this by tightening a nylon string from one corner to the opposite corner.

From one corner

..to the opposite corner.

Use a cord with a loop. Put the loop around the pen. Put the other side of the cord to the opposite corner, tighten and determine the distance. Put a small knot in the cord or keep it fixed between thumb and index.

Then determine in the same way the distance between the 2 other opposite corners. Most of the time this distance is some shorter or longer than the first determined distance. This means that the frame is not rectangular, so it has no 4 right angles. Then “change the form” of the frame a little and determine both distances again. Continue until both distances are (almost) equal. Then fix all screws in the 4 corner plates.

Lay the frame on the garden soil, at the place where the cage must be built.

When the frame is at the right position, push at each corner the pen into the soil. Then take away the frame. Now you have 4 small holes in the garden soil at the position of the 4 tubes.

This metal tube has a diameter that is bigger than the tubes of the cage.

Hit the big metal tube in the garden soil at each small hole. Use a wooden hammer or put a wooden lath on top of the tube and hit with a metal hammer to overcome damage of the tube. Take the tube out of the soil and tap against it to remove the soil from it. Repeat this until the hole in the soil has the same depth as the length of this big tube.

Lay the frame on the garden soil and check if all 4 pens fit into 4 holes in the garden soil. Then remove the frame again.

Put one metal tube in each hole. Hit each tube into the soil until it is about 2 feet above the soil. Use a wooden hammer. Or hit with a metal hammer while putting a wooden block on top of the tube. This is to prevent damaging the tube.

Put te frame on the metal tubes;

• put (at 2 adjacent corners) the plastic connecting plate on the tube.
• lift the frame at the 2 other adjacent corners and put the plastic plates on the tubes.
• now 4 connecting plates of the frame is on 4 tubes.
• at each corner put the pen into the tube.
• when needed, bend a tube a little bit aside to have the pen fitting into the tube.

Keep the frame on the 4 tubes until you start working the soil (digging).

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Take the frame from the 4 tubes and lay it on the soil in your garden. The 4 tubes remain in the garden soil. Work the garden earth while tubes are in the soil.

Dig the soil around and between the tubes. This works well.

After digging, lay stepping boards on the garden soil, so earth will not be treaded down.

Make a small furrow between the 4 tubes. In this furrow a small  part of the metal wire netting will be digged in.

Put the metal wire netting around 3 tubes. On the photo the netting has been put around all tubes exept the left rear tube.

Dangle the “last tube” (rear left) in the garden soil. Then take this tube out of the soil.

Put this tube at the “inner side” of the wire netting. Use this tube to push against the wire netting until the tube is above the hole in the soil. Then put this tube in the garden soil again.

The metal wire netting is now around all 4 tubes. Push the lower part of the wire netting into the small furrow.

Put the frame on the 4 tubes again. The pens are next to the tubes.

At each corner, put the pen into the tube.

At the corners it can happen that the frame is somewhat higher than the top of the metal wire netting. Then carefully hit the corner of the frame until the tube is at the right depth. Again use a wooden hammer or a wooden block on the frame when using a metal hammer.

Then put earth into the furrow to fix the lower part of the metal wire netting.

Wrap nylon or plastic cord through the upper meshes and around the laths. So the wire netting fits to the laths.

Put the lid on the frame. When you do this without any help from another person, put it “skew” on the frame. Then turn the lid carefully until it is correct on the frame.

When the lid is stuck (jammed), you can make the lid a little bit smaller. Take 2 adjacent screws out at one corner. Shift the connection plate on the lath and put in the screws again. Chipboard screws can be put in wood without predrilling. Bit you may drill or use a thinner chipboard screw.  And then put in the original chipboard screw.

Fix 2 laths slanting on the lid. When the lid is still stuck (jammed), you can eliminate stucking by screwing the laths “somewhat further”. So push a lath of the lid more inside and fix the slanting lath then.

Take the lid from the tubes and put it on 3 big flower pots at an empty area in the garden.

You better put the net in the lid above the slanting laths. The net will not bend so easy on the cabbage plants. When the net is lying on the leaves of a cabbage plant, the butterfly is able to put eggs on. These can grow to caterpillors.

Tighten the net a little. Then fix the net to some nails at 2 corners of one short side (on the photo at the right side).

Fix the net behind 2 screws at a long lath (at the bottom of the photo).

Fix the net to some nails at 2 corners of the other short side (on the photo at the left side).

Tighten the net and fix it to all nails in 1 long lath and 2 short laths. On the photo visible at the right, left and lower side.

At the other long lath there is too much net material. On the photo at the top. Tighten the net a little.  Again and again, at a part of the net, cut the surplus of the net and fix it to the nails.

Cut the surplus net at the left side.

Check if the net is fixed to all nails.  When not, fix the net to the “empty” nails.

Put the lid on the frame to close the cabbage cage. Lay the supporting lath on the lid when not used.

On this photo the cage has been opened at one side. The lath supports the lid.

This photo from 2011 shows the v-shaped end of the supporting lath.

30) Root ball lifting flower pot

This tip has already been published at 2) Simple tools and tips.  Many readers and gardners found this procedure so useful that I made a new post of it, nr 30. (I removed this procedure at tip 2).

You can sow seeds in a small flower pot. Some weeks later, plants can be put in a bigger pot or in the garden soil. Taking out the plants with the complete rootball is not easy.

Taking out the plants goes very well when you use a “root ball lifting flower pot”. This post describes the procedure.

You can use this procedure for example when sowing early lettuce.  About 4 weeks after sowing, plants are put into the garden soil. The plants have small roots then.

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Needed: 

Two equal flower pots and a thin sheet of plastic, e.g. the plastic lid of a margarine box. The pots on the photo are 2 inch wide at the top and 2.5 inch high.

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Making:

Make one “insert” by cutting away about two thirds of the side of one plastic flower pot. Then you have one flowerpot and one insert.

Cut a “lift strip” from a thin plastic plate (for example, a lid of a margarine box). The strip may be rectangular or spoon shaped.  Strip width is about 15 mm (5/8 inch inch).  Length about 4 inch. Bend the strip at one end. The short part of the strip must fit in the insert.

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Filling and sowing:

Put an insert into an empty flowerpot.

Put a lift strip in the empty insert. On the photo you can see two systems, one with a rectangular lift strip and one with a spoon shaped strip. Both systems work well, although possibly the spoon shaped one works better in larger pots.

Write information on the long part of the lift strip. Fill the insert with potting soil or sowing soil.  Press a little on the soil. Lay seeds on the soil.  Cover the seeds with (potting) soil or dry sand.

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Taking out:

When plants are big enough they can be taken out. Carefully pull at the top edge of the insert and take the insert with root ball and plants out of the flower pot.

Pull the strip a few millimetres (about 1/4 inch) to above. Then release the strip. The rootball will first loosen from the insert and then return to its position again. It will not stick anymore.

Take the rootball with palnts between your thumb and fingers. Put the rootball at its desired position (soil, another flowerpot etc).

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Putting in the garden soil:

This is a description about putting the root ball with plants into the garden soil.

Top photo:  Make a small hole in the soil. Put the flower pot with plants (or an empty flower pot with the same size) into the hole. Shove the earth against the flower pot and push on the earth around the pot.

Middle photo:  Take the flower pot out of the soil.  Take the insert out of the pot.  Loosen the root ball using the strip.

Lower photo:  Take the rootball from the insert and drop it carefully into the hole in the soil.

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Tips:

• Try the lifting procedure before laying seeds on. Then you can test if the potting soil is moist enough. “Feel” how the procedure works. If okay, put the rootball back in the pot by doing the steps in reverse order. If not okay, clean the parts and start all over again. Push some harder on the soil or make the soil more moist.
• Spray some water on the (potting) soil before “lifting”. Then the (potting) soil will not fall apart so easily during handling.

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Wikihow

In Wikihow I wrote an article about this. Click at:     wikihow pot

29) Growing plants from tiny seeds

Some plants have tiny seeds. It is rather difficult to grow these plants indoors in a box, a flower pot or a tray. Particularly when only 1 plant should grow in the pot or box.

You can strew a group of seeds in a tray and thin out to 1 plant after germination. Or you can use tweezers, a moist point of a cocktail stick or a folded paper sheet to drop 1 or 2 seeds on the sowing soil.

I invented this rather simple procedure.

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Necessary:

A rubber mat that is used in a kitchen sink. From this mat a small rectangular mat is cut.

• A rubber “mat”.  This is a rectangular piece of mat.  Size about 2.5 x 4 inch. It is cut from a rubber kitchen sink mat. The mat fits in a small empty margarine box (250 grams).
• White plastic tea spoon.
• Metal tea spoon.
• Big empty margarine box (500 grams).  Cut away the upper edge of the box.

• Two small empty margarine boxes (250 grams).
• Potting soil or sowing soil.
• Dry garden sand or masonry sand or sand-box sand.
• Tea-strainer

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Sowing:

Put some potting soil or sowing soil in a small margarine box. Water the soil when needed. Use tweezers to lay the mat on the soil in the margarine box.

Snapdragon has tiny seeds.

Strew some seeds in the big margarine box (the box with removed upper edge).

Lay the white tea spoon on a table. Hold the big box with seeds slanting above the spoon.

Carefully tap against the bottom of the big margarine box to move the seeds to the edge of the box.

Keep tapping until a number of seeds have fallen into the tea spoon. For Snapdragon 2 seeds are needed.

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Have (by accident)  too many seeds fallen into the spoon, act as follows:

• Hold the spoon in the big margarine box. Carefully tap against the spoon to have the surplus of seeds falling into the big margarine box.
• Or drop all seeds back into the big margarine box and start all over again.

Hold the spoon with 2 seeds above one hole of the mat. Hold the spoon sloping and carefully tap against the spoon. Drop the 2 seeds into the hole of the mat.

When needed, sieve dry garden sand (or masonry sand or sand-box sand)  with a tea-strainer into a small box. Then take a half tea spoon of sieved sand.

Strew dry sand into the hole of the mat in which 2 seeds have been dropped before.

Drop 2 seeds in each hole of the mat and strew dry sand in.

Use tweezers to pick up the mat from the potting soil (or sowing soil). Take the mat out of the small margarine box. Now there are 15 “sand hills” with seeds in it.

Put 2 small elastic bands around the small margarine box with seeds. Get a big empty margarine box.

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Germinating:

Put the big empty margarine box upside down on (over)  the small margarine box with seeds. This forms a small greenhouse. Put the whole in a room at about 20 C (68 F).

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Plants visible:

A few days after sowing, remove the big margarine box to check if plants are visible already.  No plants visible, then put the big margarine box on (over) the small one again.

Remove the big upper box as soon as first small plants are visible. At Snapdragon this is after about 7 days at 20 C (68 F).  Also remove the elastic bands from the small box. The put the small box with little plants before a window at 15 to 20 C (59 to 68 F).

Small Snapdragon plants, just come up in sand hills.

Snapdragon plants, 7 days later.  There are 15 sand hills. At 14 sand hills plants have come up. In each sand hill 1 or 2 plants have come up.

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Planting out:

Needed:

• Plastic tray filled with potting soil.
• Small margarine box containing sand hills with small Snapdragon plants.
• Metal or plastic tea spoon.

Use a tea spoon to make again and again a small pit into the potting soil in a compartment.  In each compartment, shove the potting soil aside.

Carefully scoop a sand hill with 1 or 2 plants and some potting soil out of the small box.

Detail photos of sand hills with 1 or 2 plants and potting soil.

Again and again lay sand hills with plant(s) and potting soil into the small pits in the tray.  Use fingers or another tea spoon to put the plant(s) upright.  Then shove some potting soil against the plant(s).

Repeat these actions until all compartments of the tray contain plants or until all sand hills with plant(s) have been planted.

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On this photo 10 sand hills with potting soil have been planted into the tray. At most sand hills, 2 plants have come up.  In the margarine box there are 5 sand hills left.

In each compartment of the tray strew a thin layer of potting soil or sowing soil around the small plants. Then spray water on the soil.

On the top photo you see a tray with groups of plants.  Each group comes from one sand hill.  Each group has 1 or 2 plants.

On the lower photo there is a detail of one group. This group has 2 plants.

Put the tray with plants before a window at 15 to 20 C (59 to 68 F)

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Thinning

Plants before thinning. After one week at 15 to 20 C (59 to 68 F), plants are large enough to thin out.

Plants after thinning.

Thinning. At each group of 2 plants, carefully pull out the smallest plant. Use fingers or tweezers to do this. Or use scissors to cut the smallest plant just above the potting soil.

In a compartiment of the tray with 1 plant in it,  of course there is no need for thinng.

After thinning, spray water on the soil around the plants.

Then put the tray with plants before a window at 15 to 20 C (59 to 68 F).  Let them grow to big plants

Remarks:

• Seeds may “stick” to the plastic spoon or the big margarine box due to static electricity. If so, clean the spoon and the empty box in diluted dish water. Do not rinse after washing but let dry in air. This forms a “thin layer of soap” on the spoon and on the box.  This overcomes sticking by static electricity.
• When you water the plants in the small box, spray water against the inside wall of the box. The water will seep down into the potting soil. In this way the sand hills keep their shapes.
• You can fill the small box with sowing soil or potting soil. After coming up of the plants, you have to scoop the sand hills with soil. Crumbly sowing soil can easily be scooped. So taking out the sand hills is easy then.  Potting soil contains more long fibres, so it is harder scoopable. But potting soil works well, as shown on my photos.