Gardening is hard to start with and in partial shade on the balcony its hard to start with. My seedlings have been in recycled milk cartoons until they can be moved. They've been there longer than I wished because my wood planter projects has set me back a little. I've been learning as I've gone along and my seedlings have been in containers too small for them while I've worked out problems with my strategies.
Wood took a lot of time to procure and the results were mixed. Using recycled wood to be planters has had its problems namely the concrete hardness of some of the wood has been breaking my nails and broke a hammer. So because of time and my plants being unhappy at the moment because they wish to grow: I've decided to use wood to hold planters rather than be planters. This means I need eco-friendly containers. I also need costs to be low. What this has meant is a rather time consuming process.
The other thing is soil. I've been getting soil from the mountain near me. I got it near a pristine stream and it was wet. It took a while to carry it. That trip took an hour of sweaty labor. When I got home I didn't have enough. So when it comes to my seedlings and keeping them alive I'm thinking of making some comprimises with bought soil
I need to get more and more so I expect my arms to get bigger.
The other thing is fertilzer. They need food and soil is carnivorous. So in my research I've found that other than manure which everyone knows about, there is also bone meal, seaweed, and rocks that can be used. I'm still working out the ratios of everything.
The project sometimes feels overwhelming but that is my fault rather than the project. I don't always have all the answers even though I want to. What is time consuming is that to be cheap.
My plants don't have time to waste. Their lives are dependent on me so I am scrambling quickly to get things done.
One by one I'm finding solutions to my problems.
On the amazing internet I found this idea from Chest of Books: It's a boy's carpentry book with a lot of good simple common sense: in the link to the right I found the pictures below: seed boxes and paper pots
I can make my pots use box corners:
Paper Mache is another option. I found this link for commercially sold ornamented paper mache planters. It's given me the idea to make me own.
Designed paper mache
The paper mache could make me growing green viable by hanging them in light weight paper mache pots on wire hangers.
Now would these break apart. Yes they would. That's kind of the point. And it makes sense after a while. I'm recycling but I'm also composting in a sense.
All options I've explored have some level of toxic exposure. With the paper, most newspapers use soy ink which is less toxic than petroleum based newspaper and would be healthier to use for planters. With the boxes there are chemicals they have been treated. But still I feel they have less toxicity than a plastic container and they are mostly degradable. If at some point, I found a healthier option I'll adapt it, but for now I'll take it.
Things are working out.
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