Sunday, February 23, 2014

Turn a 2 liter plastic bottle into a Terrarium


Yesterday I posted on our vegetable gardening Facebook page 6 broccoli plants that I had started from seed inside a two liter plastic bottle (show above).  I received a number of emails, Facebook posts and so on as to how I did this.  Therefore I wanted to share it in this blog post.  It's pretty simple, and when done it creates a nice terrarium for starting your seeds and growing your plants.

You need a few basic items to make this work.  For starters, a plastic bottle.  I use two liter bottles, but three liter bottles would be better.  We just do not have many of them around here anymore.  If you are not someone that drinks anything from two liter bottles, do what I did.  Start visiting some of your neighbors recycle bins on recycle day (if you have that).  It's a great resource for getting these bottles.

Next you will need a pot to put your soil, seeds, plants etc. into.  I like to use Cowpots, so that when it is time to move your plants to the outdoors, I just plant the entire pot.

Some soil, and of course seeds.  You are ready to begin.

Start by cutting the bottle in half.  You might have to puncture a hole in the bottle first to get it going.  Once you do, cutting the bottle in half should be a breeze. 


Your bottle should look like the one pictured above.  Mine has been used already so that is why you see some dirt in there.


Fill your pot with your soil and seed, then place the pot inside the bottom half of your plastic bottle as shown above. 



Finally, take the top of the bottle and while slightly squeezing in the sides of the bottom of the bottle, place the top over the sides of the bottom as shown above.  Notice the cap is on top of the bottle.  You must leave this on otherwise all of the warm air in the bottle will escape.

And there you have it!  A nice little terrarium for your seeds made out of nothing more than a two liter plastic bottle.

14 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for sharing your idea. Off to collect some plastic bottles

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    1. you should be able to get some freebies in someone elses recycle bucket if you have that service in your area

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  2. Good Afternoon Mike:

    My name is Bethany Littrell and I have a few questions for you. My husband and I have 2 LARGE trash bags filled with empty water bottles as well as several 2 liter bottles. I am a beginning gardener and welcome your guidance. I have a LOT of seed packets and I need to know what I can plant in these bottles. My husband is also in the process of building a greenhouse for me. I want to have a healthy garden so anything you can tell me would be awesome!! My parent's had a HUGE garden everywhere we lived when I was growing up. We even had 7 rows of corn, grapevine, 8 blackberry bushes, Rubarb, every type of fruit, every type of vegetables....our gardens were 4 acres. I didn't have a problem weeding the garden, picking from it, but I never planted anything. I also want to plant chocolate mint, orange mint, apple mint, and Stevia. Your advice please?? Please email me if you don't mind. bethany_littrell2013@yahoo.com

    Thanks so much!!

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  3. Love it! sometimes simple is best. I'm sure you watered your seed/soil. would you recommend just a "normal" amount of water when planting? then just keep an eye out for adding more when/if needed?

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    1. I like to water my seed fairly well before putting the lid on ... most of the time it's all I need

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  4. This is perfect for me. I'm definitely going to do it. Thank you!!

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  5. WHAT IF YOU HAVE PLANTED THE SEED AND MOLD GROWS ON THE SOIL. WHAT DO I DO TO GET RID OF IT? AND WILL IT HURT THE SEEDS?

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    1. I have never had that happen, I would imagine you can just scrape the mold off ... everything should still be ok.

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  6. Can this be done with 1/2 gallon milk bottles as well?

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  7. That's a good question Bill. I have never tried a milk bottle. I imagine you are talking about the plastic kind and not the glass bottle.

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  8. Hi Mike,
    Does this allow for enough air or do you need to occasionally open the bottle for air flow?
    Thanks .... valuable idea.

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    1. plenty of air ... I have never had any issues ... I usually remove the lids once the plants are a 3 inches or more

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