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Using Milk Cartons To Plant Sweetcorn
Repurposing & Reusing
Repurposing milk cartons for gardening is an eco friendly and cost effective way to start your sweetcorn plants. These sturdy containers provide an excellent environment for seedlings, giving them enough space to grow long roots in before transplanting them into the garden.
Preparing the Milk Cartons
Start by thoroughly cleaning your empty milk cartons to remove any residue. Cut the carton top and bottom to allow a long sleeve style pot to plant your seeds in.
Planting Sweetcorn Seeds
Fill the prepared cartons with a nutrient rich, well draining potting mix. Plant one sweetcorn seed about an inch deep in each carton. Water the soil gently but thoroughly and place the cartons in a warm, sunny location, such as a windowsill or greenhouse, or just cover the tub you are planting in. Sweetcorn thrives in temperatures between 15-29°C, so maintaining warmth is essential for germination.
Caring for Sweetcorn Seedlings
Keep the soil consistently moist but not waterlogged by bottom watering in the tray. Once the seedlings sprout, provide them with at least six hours of sunlight daily. When the plants are 4-6 inches tall and the outdoor temperature is consistently warm, they’re ready for transplanting.
Transplanting to the Garden
Before moving your sweetcorn outdoors, harden off the seedlings by gradually exposing them to outdoor conditions over 7-10 days. When planting, space sweetcorn 12 inches apart in blocks rather than rows to ensure proper pollination. Gently remove the seedling from the carton and plant it at the same depth it was growing.
Using milk cartons for sweetcorn is a simple, sustainable method that reduces waste while giving your plants a strong, healthy start.
Using Milk Cartons to Grow and Transplant Sweetcorn Without Causing Any Harm To The Roots.
Why Do We Plant Out Like This?
To stop Clayton from handling the roots.
If they are planted into a pot, he has to dig the correct size hole and transfer the plant to ground. This isn’t easy & he finds the whole process stressful as the soil falls out and the plant doesn’t sit straight, especially with so many to do, he just wouldn’t do it.
So I came up with an adaptable gardening solution for him.
Gardening is for all, just gotta make it work for you and your needs.
What Did We Use?
No fancy equipment. We just collected our cartons over the months to fill an under the bed container, the ones you’d use for all the kids toys pushed under their bed, we had a few of these already. They are the perfect height and size for this job.
NB: as these are large and you decide to use one too, move them first before watering as they get heavy with all the soil in them. We have a large trug 4 wheeled draper wheelbarrow that it sits nicely into to move up and down the garden. Whatever you use, make sure you can move it to location to plant.
Clayton filling up the cartons that are in the container. Ideal for bottom watering the plants.
Clayton adding in 1 sweetcorn seed to each one. If after a few weeks one does not come up we just pop another seed in
Using a dibber to make a hole so he doesn’t have to touch the soil. He uses the dibber to cover the seed back up too.
These went straight into the cold frame we built for the seeds to grow this year, previous years we just had them on the window sill in small trays Building A Cold Frame From A Metal Bed, Scrap Wood, Pallets & Shower Curtains
How Did We Do It? MOVING
After a few weeks when the sweetcorn is a good 15-20cm tall we transplant them into the positions they will grow
We make sure that it is a day they need watering so the soil is dry inside so it is easier to remove the cartons
We start by making a little valley for the cartons to sit in, pushing the soil to either side.
Then by putting a trowel under the the bottom of the cartons to stop the soil falling out move them into position
How Did We Do It? FILLING
We then add more compost as required to fill in the gaps between the rows to make sure they will be level before we remove the cartons
How Did We Do It? REMOVING
Once all the rows are filled up we just simple remove the cartons by pulling it straight up (sometimes with a little light shake). This is Clayton’s favourite part. We have been doing this for the last 3yrs so he knows what he is doing now.
How Did We Do It? FINISHING
Finishing off we just press the soil down around each plant to make sure it is all in place and water in.
That’s it!
This is the quickest and easiest method for us to plant out without Clayton having to touch the roots, touch the soil or get dirty at all. Due to his SPD Sensory Processing Disorder he doesn’t always like to touch the soil or get anything on his hands.
This method we use makes light work of the job and can be use by so many people for many reasons. Gardening is for all, so needs to be adaptable if needed to suit the needs.
The cartons after finishing, they’ll be rinsed out and put away for using next time.
SWEETCORN: Sowing PART 1 Video Reel
SWEETCORN: Growing On Part 2 Video Reel
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Wonderful to see how you adapted it to include your son in your gardening projects. My daughter has ASD and it vary how much she wants to join in the gardening process. She is also not so comfortable getting her hands dirty, I’ll try this next year.
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Thank you for your comment. There’s lots of little adaptions like this I’ve picked up along the way to make his gardening life more comfortable for him, makes all the difference
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