A step by step guide to planting seeds in a pot

Yesterday, at the Independence Day Parade, lots of stuff was given out. Fans and seeds and pens and massive amounts of candy. As I walked the parade route, I could see that many of the kids had made massive piles of candy and gum and other assorted goodies. For the kids, the parade is as much fun as Halloween... or maybe even more fun. They stay with their families at the parade route and collect candy. No trick or treating. Just candy collection.

But I digress, just a little bit. 

This is the seed packet

I went home with a fan, a pen, and a packet of seeds. Planting the forget me nots, handed out by Bev Kinney, who is running for re-election to the Grand Island Town Council, was to be my project for today. This is a fun project for you to do with your kids. So here are the steps. Before you start, you should make sure that you have all of your materials: seeds, a flower pot (plastic or ceramic), stones, potting soil, and water.

Stones in the pot help with
drainage

The first thing that you will do is to put a layer of stones on the bottom of your pot. This will keep the water from draining out too quickly, once your seeds are planted.

You're ready to add the seeds!

Next, you're going to fill your pot to the point where it's almost full with potting soil. Once you've filled your pot with soil, scatter the seeds in the pot and cover lightly with potting soil. 

You're all set. All you need to
do is to give your seeds a drink!

Your last step in this project is to water the pot and set it out in the sun. If it's a warm day, as it was today, you will want to water your pot a second time before it gets dark.

Check the plant each day and, after three to five days, you should start to see your plants germinate. I don't fertilize my plants because the potting soil has fertilizer in it already.

And, speaking about planting, this is a project that I did with my old recycle bin. It is an herb garden. I filled the recycle bin with soil and then planted herbs. The herbs that i planted included some mint, basil, and lemon verbena. In addition to the herbs, I also planted herb seed, and a whole bunch has germinated and is growing at a nice pace. This includes mint and dill. I also have chives and parsley in my small garden plot in front of the house. If you have something like an old recycle bin, you might try putting together a contained herb garden as a project, also. You'll enjoy having everything in one place. Also, some of the herbs, such as mint, can be very aggressive and can take over a garden, so putting the mint in a container keeps it well under control.

Happy gardening!

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