Kathy Amen would like to thank her dear friend Kari Loth for giving her a subscription to The Herb Companion magazine.
Over the year’s my friends and I have collected several different varieties of seeds, but I had never actually started them in time for spring. This year, I was determined to see what I could do with ALL THESE SEEDS!! So I decided to start all my herbs and flowers early indoors with the help of homemade terrariums.
The first terrarium I made was with various “terrarium materials:” a plastic chicken rotisserie container from the local market, cardboard rolls cut in half, moistened soil and seeds. Once this was successful, I tried using old CD containers. I was really surprised with how well the cardboard rolls held together, keeping the soil quite snug. Once the seedlings sprout, just unwind the cardboard as you would unwind a roll of biscuits. You’ll be surprised how firm the soil still is–it’s ready for transplanting. Since it is still early, I then transplanted into larger Jiffy Peat Pot’s.
Soon I was creating several terrariums and began to run out of window sills for the best possible light. Then, I discovered that my old antique ironing boards worked out perfectly. I set them behind my love seat to create a shelf for terrariums and transplanted seedlings. It gets the best lighting in the house!
Photos courtesy Kathy Amen
I didn’t realize that starting seeds could be so much FUN and make great gifts, too!