One thing that became, especially during lockdown, more and more important to me, is seeing my own plants grow - from the seed to the flower/fruit. I spent the first lockdown in 2020 in my partner's flat in the Old Town of Nice. A cute but tiny place that looked onto a little piazza. Unfortunately too close to a church, that every now and then disrupted my sleep. Characteristic for the Old Town of Nice, the Vieux Nice, are its narrow streets, so you can imagine that my partner's one room apartment on the first floor didn't enjoy much light. Nevertheless, I tried my luck and this was the result...
During the early months in 2020 I saved some seeds from vegetables we ate and I even brought some from my garden in Hamburg. I wanted to create a little garden from zero in the front window as that one got at least 4 hours of light per day. And the French window shutters, here in Nice in the traditional turquoise color, are a wonderful possibility to hang pots. Just that on those I didn't really want to spent money. I had just lost my major freelance clients due to the crisis and was running out of funds in a way that paralyzed me and caused me many sleepless nights. So I tried to save money on every end. And where do poor people go to if they try to find useful things? The trash bin! Yes, the trash bin can be a gold mine if you are creative and have a hand for up-cycling. I up-cycled fruit and vegetable containers, bean and corn cans and even Tetra Pak juice packaging or the 1 kg fromage blanc pot. (French people seems to eat loads of quark, you can't get smaller containers but they are perfect for planting. Anyway all these packaging that we throw away daily, give perfect pots for flowers and more. Just give it a try and reduce your household waste.
But creating an urban garden doesn't start with planting, it starts with seeding. I had collected some really nice seeds: pumpkin, tomatoes, peppers, sunflowers. Most of the times you start seeding in small pots and when the little plants are strong enough they come into bigger pots or can be planted outside. Therefore I grabbed into the waste bin again. Most of the seeding pots are made of plastic. But there's one alternative that's zero-waste and recyclable: The packaging of eggs. They are made of carton (hopefully you don't buy the plastic ones - screw you) and give perfect starter pots.
But there's one thing you cannot find in your waste bin, it's soil, so you might head to the supermarket and buy a pack or two. Make sure it's suitable for biological agriculture. I fill the compartments of the egg packs with some soil and form a little hole with my finger in the middle of each. That's where I put my seeds. You can also start growing your seeds without soil. I sometimes use a tupper box with some wet kitchen paper. You just place the pumpkin, tomato and sunflower seeds in it, cover it but not fully, so air can still come it and wait a few days until the little plants start growing. You might need to add water on the kitchen paper from time to time when it starts to dry out. Place the germinated seeds into smaller pots and water them nicely. Then check every morning our your little plants are doing. If the soil feels dry, give them water.
In my next post, I will explain you how to create knitted pot hangers an. Stay tuned.
Rosa