Tuesday Tutorial: Mini Greenhouses

Can you feel it? The air is getting warmer ... the days getting just a little longer ... I am itching for gorgeous weather - and hoping to have some sort of garden this year. My kids have been planting herb seeds for the past few days to grow on our windowsill.


If your little garden gnomes are like mine, they will be itching to start their gardens long before the weather is warm enough to start them outside. The solution? Mini make-shift greenhouses that take up no extra room in your house!


To make each mini greenhouse you will need soil, seeds, masking tape or packing tape, and a ziplock baggie. Fill the bottom of the baggie with soil (not too much or the greenhouse will be too heavy), plant a seed or 2, mist with a plant mister, tape the top portion of the baggie to a sunny window (be sure that the bag can still be opened and closed when you are taping the top, only tape the back of the bag to the window), and zip it closed. Beans are a great choice for this greenhouse, because they grow quickly and they will grow up and out of the bag very nicely. Your child will be able to watch as the seed sprouts, see the root system and the shoot and watch it grow quickly. You will be able to observe the water cycle as well … the wet soil causes condensation on the baggie which will “rain” down back onto the soil. If the soils starts to dry out, mist again with the plant mister. Once the plant starts bumping against the bag closure, unzip it and let the plant grow up and out of its greenhouse!

From Earth*School, Gnomes in the Garden
Copyright 2004-2010, Bonnie Elizabeth Vontz/Earth*School
K&F Shops