Hive Garden Journal 2: Sowing Seeds & How to Make Tissue Paper Roll Seed Starter Pots

Hello Hive Gardeners!

February just sprung up like a cat hiding behind the wall that mischievously leaped right at us. Love is in the air all of a sudden. Red paper cut-out hearts are suddenly making their decorative appearances on shop windows as well as notifications of Valentine Dinner packages. The icing on the cake was when I spotted these grasshoppers on a rendezvous above me while I watered the limes.

For my second garden journal in the Hive Garden Community, I'd be sharing with you the status of the stone and concrete plant boxes, recent additions to the garden, sowing seeds in various containers, and making use of tissue paper rolls in gardening.

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In case you're interested to read the previous garden journal entry here it is:

New Residents in the Garden

My enthusiasm for edible plants led them to occupy the majority of the garden space. Hence, my ornamental plants are quite limited. I'm more intentional in placing decorative varieties due to a plethora of mosquitoes.

Proper placement leads to a better appreciation of plants. Ideally, they should not be crammed into a small space. Like in any design endeavor proper balance is key.

These spurted new blooms after being damaged by the typhoon.

My "plantita" neighbor, who we'll call Mme S. has a beautiful collection of unique plants. *Plantita / Plantito * is a term that sprouted during a quarantine plant parenting trend which means a person who is obsessed with plants. 1

I enjoy watching her tend to them daily. She manages to control the mosquitoes by zapping them with an electric racket before sunset when the mosquitoes are the most active.

To my surprise and glee, she gave me these newly repotted babies after a short conversation about her gardening tips while watering plants but she didn't know their names:

Neither did I, so I used a plant-identifying app to know what they are. According to the app, the one on the left is an Elephant Ear and the one on the right is a Begonia. It seems unlikely they're correct when I googled them. What do you guys think? What are these plants?

I gave her a pot of mint in exchange since she didn't have any and promised to give her vegetable seedlings from the seeds that I have purchased from the Agrivet Shop in Moalboal Public Market, Camille @millycf1976 recommended.

The intentional or unintentional humor behind the branding for each vegetable seed, I couldn't resist sharing. Whoever was in charge had so much fun naming them. Bongga means fabulous in the Filipino language.

Fortuner I assume is related to the brand of a Toyota van. Its relationship with the eggplant is still mind-boggling, perhaps to highlight its size, but the description of the eggplant or Talong is just hilarious. "Ang talong na tumatagal" means, the eggplant that lasts." which sounded like a naughty double entendre in the local language. Anyway, I'd leave that to your imagination.

Sowing Seeds

Over the years, we have accumulated a lot of "we'll-plant-them-someday" seeds from France for a future home. I have decided it's time we use them and so I started sowing them all.

Both plant boxes are now filled up with garden soil. With the use of wooden barbeque sticks to mark the location of seeds and wooden ice cream spoons for the labels, the seeds were sown there directly. I'm lazy like that.

I am not even sure if old seeds would even work so let's see.

Garden Log of Seed Starters: There will be different kinds of tomatoes - heirloom variety from a crossbreed of a french tomato and a local one, Monfavet tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, string beans, eggplants, chayote, squash, dark opal basil, haricot verts, local chilies, radish, mogettes (white beans), parsley, coriander, etc.

Mme S suggested that I use egg crates for seedlings. A great idea for a newbie! Why not?

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How to Make Tissue Paper Roll Seed Starter Pots

This toilet paper roll seed starter was a tip I got from a diving instructor friend, Paulo who used to live in the house of Mme S. There are many variations available online but I made a step-by-step guide in case you haven't tried this before.

Et voila! Line them up side by side and place a book on top of it to flatten the bottom overnight and fill it up with soil. The biggest advantage to this is the convenience of directly planting it on the ground.

I am also experimenting with Genovese basil cuttings using re-purposed well washed yogurt pots. I have also planted basil cuttings directly on the ground. I am curious to see which one would grow faster.

Before I end this post, I'd like to share that the lemongrass has grown well since.

What's your favorite seed starter container? Which plant-identifying app would you recommend?

This is my entry to the first Hive #GardenJournalChallenge. I'd like to tag @sahiba-rana and Loy Bukid @oniemaniego to join the fun.

Thank you for reading and reaching this far in the post. Have an excellent weekend! Happy gardening!

Reference:
Metro Style: 5 Indoor Plants That Are Perfect For The New Plantita
Cover image edited with Canva

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