DIY Mini Greenhouse - Grow your own veggies!

I have grown veggies in the past, but this was back home in my bountiful island of Puerto Rico, where it appeared that any seed that was tossed outside grew! Since moving to Florida in 2008, I have tried twice to start my garden. The first attempt, we did produce a few eggplants & broccoli...but the plants withered out of the blue. The second attempt, I failed horribly, again wanting to bite off more then I could chew.


This time around, I picked a veggie & my adorable hubby picked a veggie. I picked eggplant & found some heirloom white eggplant seeds off of ebay & Casey picked tomatoes, so I found some heirloom purple tomatoes from the same seed vendor. 


I found a website from a Florida farmer & found the chart of what veggie could be planted when according to where you were at in Florida. Perfect timing. I could plant my eggplants in July & Casey's maters in August.


I made mini greenhouses from plastic bottles that we were going to toss in the recycling & from an egg carton (the cardboard type). Below is the "recipe" on how to make these...such a simple DIY!

What you'll need:

Clear plastic water bottles (remove labels & lids)

Empty cardboard egg carton

Scissors 

Knife (in case plastic is too hard & you need some reinforcement)

You are going to end up cutting out the middle part of the bottle. You'll have a bottom half that's approx 3" tall & then the top half. They should then fit into one another....so you're just making the bottle shorter.

If the bottom half doesn't fit into the top half, take a pan & fill it with a bit of water & heat it at medium heat. Once it's hot, dip the part of the container that's cut into the hot water for a few seconds to shrink it. Keep checking it & try to fit it with its other half every few seconds until it fits.

Next, cut up the egg cartons & with a knife or scissors, cut an X at the bottom for the water.

Now you put the pieces together. Fill the egg cups with soil & seeds. Take the top part of the bottle off & place the egg cup in the bottom part, water & then place the top part back on! Instant mini greenhouse!

I planted these today & should be ready to harvest as early as Oct 5th; according to my chart. Hope you enjoyed!

xo,
Nancy