Coffee cans are among the most useful of my gardening accessories. They can be used to store broken pottery bits I use over drainage holes in flower pots.
Their tight-fitting lids make them ideal waterproof containers for pieces of twine ready-cut into convenient sizes for instant use in staking and tying plants.
Seeds, plant labels, and the colored pencils used in marking plants are all well-protected in coffee cans.
For Starting New Plants
My favorite use for a coffee can is as a container for starting new plants. I use an ice pick to punch drainage holes in the bottom.
The 2-pound cans make wonderful nurseries in which to plant rooted cuttings of camellias, daphne, privet, and other flowers and shrubs until they are of sufficient size to set out in the ground.
The metal coffee cans are more satisfactory than the porous clay pots because they retain moisture better.
If I happen to be away for the day and cannot water my young plants, I need to have no fear that they will die of thirst.
For Starting Seeds
The 1-pound coffee can is the best container I have yet to find for starting seeds. They are particularly useful for perennials that germinate slowly and must be kept moist during germination.
If watered from above, seeds and seedlings may be washed about and damaged. To prevent this, place the coffee cans in pans of water.
The average packet of perennial seeds is easily accommodated in one can.
When the young plants are ready to be set out in flats or directly into the ground, a tap on the side of the can will usually dislodge its entire contents so that each plant may be shaken free of the ball of the earth without damage to its roots.
Perennials I have successfully started in this way include thalictrum, columbine, dianthus, viola, digitalis, tradescantia, and several types of iris.
A wonderfully useful invention, the coffee can, and you get coffee with it, too!
44659 by Na