In article ,
Janet Baraclough writes:
| The message
| from Janet Galpin contains these words:
|
| I have tried the guttering method a few times
| but have never felt that the plants get their roots down very
| successfully. Perhaps I've left them a bit late.
| I'm finding roottrainers establish stronger plants, but you need quite a
| few roottrainers - and they aren't cheap.
|
| You don't need to spend money. Take a half gallon plastic milk carton
| and cut the top off to make a pot 7" high, make holes in the bottom.
| Roll a sheet of nespaper around a broom handle, and slide out the broom.
| Cut the tube into lengths and stack them upright in the pot, closely
| enough so that they support each other, and fill with potting compost.
| When the plants are grown slit the pot to lift out the tubes and plant
| with the newspaper undisturbed. For larger plants like courgettes, use
| cardboard milk cartons with the tops and bottoms cut out, suporting each
| other in a seed tray or icecream box.

I must be getting old. Why didn't I think of the half gallon milk
things when I was doing that? You CAN support the broom-handle
pots with mere string, but it doesn't work very well.

A useful object that is wider than a broom handle is a vaccuum
cleaner pipe - most of them have at least one end that is free of
plastic clips.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.