Keep a Fruit Tree Small
Cutting a young fruit tree off at knee height to force low scaffold branches, holding a full-size variety at a height you can reach from the ground.
Grow Microgreens on a Windowsill in Sardine Tins
Sardine tins are shallow, easy to punch drainage holes in, and the same footprint as a classic cress punnet. Coir disc in, seeds sown thick, tins stacked to weigh the seeds down while they germinate — harvestable greens in about a week.
grow food indoors, sprouts on the kitchen counter, grow greens in an apartment, indoor gardening for beginners
The Problem
Growing food usually gets filed under "needs a garden." Microgreens don't — they're the edible seedlings of familiar plants, they grow in almost anything, and they're ready in about a week. The only setup question: what's a shallow container with drainage that fits a windowsill?
The Technique
- Punch a few drainage holes in the bottom of empty sardine tins — the thin metal makes this easy, and the tin is the same size as a classic punnet of cress.
- Rehydrate a coconut coir disc and set it in the tin as the growing medium.
- Sow seeds thickly, straight onto the surface — broccoli, pak choi, kale, radish, and cress all work — and give them a spray of water.
- Stack the tins on top of each other while the seeds germinate. The weight pressing down on the seeds pushes stronger, more even growth.
- After a couple of days, unstack and line the tins up on the windowsill. Keep them moist.
- Harvest with scissors as you want them — as garnish snips or by cutting a whole tray into a salad.
Pro tip: Any shallow food container works if tinned fish isn't in your pantry — sunflower shoots in a tapas dish, lentil greens in a mushroom tray, radish in a cream-cheese tub. Drainage holes are the only requirement.
DIYsolvr helps you find the best DIY videos. Browse all 526 techniques