New propagation gadget

I bought a new propagating gadget in Bunnings yesterday (well I got three, actually). For $7.60 each, I thought they were a good buy.

It’s called a ‘little nursery’ and is a plastic box 34 x 23 x 16 cm, with a clip-on lid, complete with handle and air vents. Inside there are 4 punnets, each of 8 cells, for cuttings or seedlings. There are no drainage holes in the bottom of the box, so watering would have to be minimal to avoid creating a puddle in the bottom, but with cuttings at least, once the rooting medium is wet, only a daily misting would be needed.

I’ve rescued my heated propagating mat from summer storage and set it up in a north-facing window with the plastic box on top. I’ve filled all the cells with cutting mix (2 parts coarse river sand/1 part cocopeat) and will be putting in cuttings over the next few days.

Around about the winter solstice I’ll fill another box with seedling mix and sow next season’s tomato seed. This year I think I’ll put 2 or 3 seeds in each cell and thin to the strongest seedling, to save pricking out, which always sets the tiny plants back a bit.

The boxes are made of good solid plastic and are a neat and tidy way to grow plants, particularly inside in the colder weather.  They’d also be useful for taking to a friend’s garden, ready to go, for taking a few cuttings. I have memories of coming home from garden visits with plastic bags full of cuttings and then spending hours preparing and planting them. Put a couple of these on the back seat of the car, put in the cuttings on site, and there’s nothing more to do when you get home.