Growing a window garden is a great way to get kids involved in plant science, but also indoor gardening is essential for us apartment dwellers! Did you know you can grow root vegetables indoors?
One of the benefits of membership at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is that we receive their quarterly publications. A while ago their Gardening with Children book arrived in our mailbox, and one of the activities that caught our eye was a see-through root vegetable garden planter.
How to Make a See-Through Planter
The prep work for the root vegetable planter was a little more involved than I usually like to do, but it wasn't difficult.
What you need:
- Half-gallon milk or orange juice carton
- X-acto knife or box cutter
- Plastic film
- Tape
- Potting soil
- Optional: spray bottle
Seeds for root veggies of your choice. We chose radish seeds because that's what we had. Radish seed are also very quick to germinate and grow, so they are good choices for kids.
Instructions
Cut the top off the carton, then using the cutter, remove windows from two sides of the carton.
Tape plastic film to the inside of the carton's windows.
Fill carton with soil until about 2 inches from the top.
Gently place the radish seeds in the soil to the depth indicated on the seed packet.
We used a spray bottle to gently water the seeds.
Place indoor root vegetable planter in a sunny window. You'll want to keep the soil moist until the seeds sprout, and then watch carefully so the seedlings don't dry out.
UPDATE: I never took any photos (face palm!), but we did manage to grow a few spindly radishes. And I mean very spindly. Still, it was fun to be able to watch them grow. Here's a photo of them sprouting:
Lisa says
Great job with this!
Melissa says
Love this! I hope it works!
Mom, M.Ed. says
Yea for seedlings! Ben's carrots just popped up...his snap peas are going crazy.
Be sure to keep updating so we can see the progress of these guys!!
Stacie says
That is the best use for what looks like a peri bottle I think I've ever seen. This looks fun!
Stacy says
Stopping by from the CK Edvanture link up. I love the see through idea! It is an idea I'll have to store away for next spring's plant unit! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Shaunna @ Fantastic Fun and Learning says
I love this idea. My daughter would be so excited to make her own planter and then get to observe something growing in it. Thanks for linking this post to Discover and Explore. I'll be featuring this post next Tuesday!
I hope you'll be back to share for our Moon, Stars, and Nighttime Sky theme this week.
LINDA BARR says
Thank you for this wonderful idea. I love doing gardening projects with my grandsons and this one will be so much fun!
Erica MomandKiddo says
Happy gardening!