Skip The Seed Starter Pots, There's A Solution Hiding In Your Medicine Cabinet

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If you're busy looking through seed catalogs in anticipation of spring planting, firstly, well done on being an organized gardener. Secondly, it might be worth clearing that garden center shopping cart of all those plastic seed starter pots you planned to buy. You likely have another option for starting seeds in your home already — in your bathroom medicine cabinet, in fact. It's probably something you've never thought twice about repurposing, at least not for this reason. The usually disposable containers we're talking about are empty pill bottles. (Yes, really!) It's common for people to use pill bottles to for seed storage, but they work great for germinating those seeds, too.

Once you also start considering pill bottles for seed germination, what it means for your garden is a free supply of seed start pots. They tick all the boxes for the job: they're small, lightweight, transportable, and made of durable, waterproof, medical-grade plastics. They won't collapse like other upcycled seedling pots. (Looking at you, cardboard egg cartons.) Because of their cylindrical shape, they're easy to stack side-by-side in a container or box, and the soil should retain moisture, which is very important for seed germination. You can use the lids to increase humidity. All of these attributes are exactly what your tiny little seedlings need. Are you trying to cut down on your household waste? This is a creative way to reuse prescription bottles instead of tossing them into the recycling bin or, worse, the trash can.

To get started with this project, thoroughly clean and dry each pill bottle. You can remove the labels if you wish, but it's not necessary. Then poke a couple of drainage holes in the bottom of the bottle. To reduce splitting, use a Vanwoke Temperature-Adjustable Electric Soldering Gun. An electric drill fitted with a bit suitable for plastic should work, too. Fill each bottle with with seed-starting mix, label the bottle with the plant name, and press in the seed. Truthfully, seeds don't need much space in their pot at the germination stage. They need just a little soil — at minimum, it should be a little over two times as deep as the width of the seed. Don't twist or seal the lids onto the bottles; you risk cutting off airflow. To create a greenhouse effect, loosely place the lid on the bottle. Place your upcycled seed starter pots in a sunny spot on a tray or in a larger container to catch water leaks.

While cheap and quite effective, and definitely not a spring garden prepping mistake you'll want to avoid, pill bottles aren't flawless as seedling pots. For one, the limited space inside the tube-like bottles means they're best used for plants with short root systems, like herbs or leafy greens. Plus, the seedlings will need to be transplanted sooner than they would with deeper containers. Additionally, you can easily overwater your greenery, which is why drainage holes are vital. If you are worried about this problem, or if the soil is drying out too fast, bottom-water the pots.