WS newbie-Put out now?

Another beauty of milk jugs- even monsoon rain won't disturb tiny seedlings. They stay happy and protected from the pelting rain.

Karen

I sure hope so as we are in the middle of some monsoon rain right now.... and I don't have caps, I'm trying not to worry as I keep telling myself if these were in the garden they would just be laying on top of the ground with no protection.....LOL

repeating over and over and over and over to myself....

signing off for the night as we are also having a BAD thunder storm to go with the rain.

Janet

I'm so delighted about this whole process. I felt like I was proceeding on a 'wing and a prayer'. It made sense to me logically, but ran so anti to everything I had learned about seed-starting.

Faith in Mother Nature, and support from the WS community has been just what I needed after some rough bits of life these past years.............

My little rain lilies are popping up all over my yard, and bulb beds, along with tulip and daffs pushing up-renewing my faith in lots of areas. My little indoor mushroom 'garden' has teeny, tiny white mushrooms now too. ;)

I've enjoyed becoming a part of everyone's WS projects on this thread-so much I've learned and tried this year.

Janet, we have the same thunderstorm here. My son, home from college is all excited. Growing up in N. Calif. he only ever experienced them when we came back here to visit. He feels like this is a great gift from M.Nature for his spring break!

I'm signing off however, since I have a VERY anxious cat slinking and darting through the house...........he needs HIS mom. LOL.

clpgirl

this is a great place to come to keep the faith on our WS seeds.

Yes what a thunderstorm last night.... it even had my youngest collie girl darting around in the garage.... gosh I sure hope she isn't going to turn into a problem. I had one that oh my, but sadly I lost her last year to cancer.

I've still got over a 100 container to get planted.... but the drainage holes are slowing me down.....LOL

Janet

Janet, up're using a drill and doing several at one time, right?

well the drill isn't working out cause it goes through but I can't get it out without the drill bit coming out. So I'm back to just using a Phillips head screwdriver that I'm hammering in through a hole.

this is why I'm not going to be using milk jugs next year....


Janet

Janet, the drill bit might be too big, or may not be seated right in the drill to hold it properly when tightened down. Most drills have a reverse, which makes backing the drill bit out easy.

If you can't get the drill working right for you, here's another suggestion. Light a large candle and lay a couple of large nail tips in the flame (or even an old phillips head screwdriver). Use one to push through the milk jug for your drain holes. When it no longer pushes easliy, trade for the other nail. Might have to use a pot holder or something to hold the nail head.

thanks, already tried that but I never could get the screw driver hot enough to make it easy to push through.

So for now I'm just using the hammer to push the screwdriver through the jug. I only have a little less than 100 more to do and then I'm done with that craziness...lol

Janet

Janet, I use a dremel which works perfectly. If you use a drill, you need to use a wood bit - it's shaped like an arrow - and it'll go right through. A regular drill bit won't work well, at least it didn't for me. For about $50 it was worth it - I did over 250 jugs and it worked like a champ.

I've been off DG for a while and with a new baby in the house - don't have time to read all the threads. Silly question - is it too late in Zone 5/6 to winter sow annuals? We will have some cool weather still but probably no more snow....?

Janet, I use a soldering iron. Works like a charm and goes very fast. You just plug it in, wait for it to heat up and stick it into the bottom of your container.

thanks folks, for the information.... I've decided to only do another 100 jugs due to the time getting the jugs ready, as I'm also doing seedling inside and my tomatoes are growing like weeds...

Janet

Cynthia... I'm zone5 and i've just started some annuals.
haven't done the majority of them yet... should have them all done by Mid-April.
you have plenty of time.

My friend used a small knife on her leatherman, and did the drainage holes before cutting the jug. We had used a drill on the first set but this was MUCH faster.

My seedling in their jugs still look green and perky after two nights of mid-twenties & one of snow. Hooray for WS!

Moonflowers coming up that were only put out ten days ago! Also have Malva, Hollyhocks, Salvia, Cotton :)
three kinds of marigolds, one little cypress vine seedling.......plus the chunk of farewell-to-spring, which I got from WS site and haven't a clue what they will look like. Going to PF now!) They hve been sayng hello-to-spring here for two weeks now!

TCS1366, thanks for the info. I have a daughter and one-week old granddaughter living with us now, so life has changed rapidly in the past two weeks. Don't want to miss WSing the annuals, but it hasn't been a priority recently, lol. I will get them done by mid-April no problem! Thanks again! Cynthia
P.S. This is Hadassah Nichole (Hadassah is Esther of the Bible's Hebrew name). One week old yesterday.