HOW TO GROW A PLANT FROM ZERO? – Container Gardening 🌱

Author: Low Yee Wen

Container gardening is the best choice for those with little or no gardening space. Gardeners are sometimes limited to a small yard, balcony or even only a patch of sun on their driveway. However, we can utilize these small spaces by producing a variety of vegetable crops in containers – and we call this, container gardening. Today, we’re introducing several steps to get started in container gardening! 🌱

Source of Photo: https://lindsaygardnerart.com/salsa-garden-guide

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Step 1: Choose the right plant.

It is important to select plants that match your growing conditions. For first-time gardeners, we suggest some easy-to-grow plants for container gardening. Most kitchen scraps can be grown into their full plant including bulbs of green onions, peppers, carrots and radishes. Just try something around the house!

Step 2: Choose a container.

Choose a clean container, with at least 2 to 3 inches deep and have drainage holes. It won’t have to be an actual flowerpot. Instead, you can choose from a variety of recyclable items that can be found in your daily lives, such as recycled plastics (plastic water bottles), reuse packing materials (peanuts packets), recycled crushed cans, unused plastic pots.

Step 3: Start with quality soil and plant the seedlings at a proper depth.

Instead of garden soil, soils in containers should be a good mix. For instance, the combination of soil can support plants for 1 year without additional fertilization: mix 2 gallons each of (peat moss, perlite, compost, garden soil), with a half-cup each of (dolomitic limestone, soybean meal, greensand, rock phosphate, kelp powder).

Step 4: Water wisely.

Water is important and plays an important part in any garden. Most gardens need to be kept watered. Appropriate watering is necessary for plants to flourish. However, be careful when watering! Don’t overwater it! You can dig your finger in the soil to see if they need water.

Step 5: Maintain consistent moisture.

Cover your container to help trap moisture inside. You can do this by using a plastic bag or plastic cover, but it should be supported so that it doesn’t lay flat on the soil. Remove covers as soon as speeds sprout. Another tip is to water the seedlings in the morning because plant roots are more willing to absorb water in the morning after nightfall cools the environment around them.

Step 6: Keep the soil warm.

Most seeds will germinate at around 26°C. So you might want to wrap containers in old blankets, bubble wrap or burlap to keep the soil warm. (especially if you like to have your room freezing) BTW, It’s the roots that need shielding, so it isn’t compulsory to wrap the entire plant.

Step 7: Fertilize.

You can start this step when your seedlings develop their second set of true leaves. Here are several types of natural liquid fertilizers that can be found in the local garden centres, including liquid kelp, fish emulsion, compost tea and earthworm castings tea. However, be careful not to fertilize them when they’re wilting. Water them first before fertilizing.

🚀 Fun Fact:

Sometimes, a small amount of baking soda can help you grow sweeter tomatoes. This is because baking soda can help to reduce acidity, which sweetens up your crop.

Step 8: Give seedlings enough sunlight.

Seedlings need 14 – 16 hours of light every day. Be aware not to leave them on for 24 hours a day though. They’re living things too and they need to rest at night! :)

🚀 Fun Fact:

Plants really do respond to sound. You can try to talk to plants as this helps them grow. Although this is based on a well-known old gardeners’ tale, studies have shown vibration (like music, or perhaps the sweet sound of yours) can affect plants’ growth. Additionally, in Myth Busters (a not-so-scientific study), by comparing a silent greenhouse to one where they piped in a voice soundtrack, they found that plants in the latter grew more.

Step 9: Circulate the air.

Plants can drown if there is no air in the soil. Make sure to run a gentle fan near seedlings to create air movement. However, you must be aware to keep the fan a distance away from seedlings to avoid blasting them directly.

🚀 Fun Fact:

Sometimes, a small amount of baking soda can help you grow sweeter tomatoes. This is because baking soda can help to reduce acidity, which sweetens up your crop.

Step 10: Hardening Off.

If you are looking to transplant your seedlings outdoors, you may need this step. Before they’re planted outdoors, you will need to “raise” your plants indoors so that they can be acclimatised to cooler temperatures, lower humidity and increased air circulation for 2 – 3 weeks.

Ta-da!