I collect jars.
Not just pretty jars or vintage jars...I keep jelly jars and pickle jars and salsa jars. It's a perfectly good jar. With so many possibilities. Glass doesn't break down, it's sturdy and unaffected by oil, glue, and even marker comes off of it.
You can pack leftovers in a jar.
You can put nails in a jar. Send a note in a jar. Fill a jar with happy thoughts...
I ♥ JARS!
What do I do with jars?
Store stuff, make salad dressings, fill with bulk spices and herbs, to name a few....
I've been keeping jars as functional storage for years.
I put nuts and bolts in them, tiny terrariums, clothespins, game pieces, miscellaneous tiny toys my kids would leave around...Legos, army men, marbles, micro machine bulldozers, barbie clothes,
doll shoes, hair clips, money...yes...lots of pennies!
But my favorite thing to do with a perfectly good jar is propagating tiny little plants to later transplant or put in my garden. Seven years ago, when my youngest son was in first grade, he gave me a potted impatien planted in a tiny little clay pot for mothers day.
I kept it in that clay pot in my
kitchen window for a year. It was tiny mind you, so it required lots of attention. Water, occasional visits to the shade, and a little tilling of the dirt in the tiny pot kept this lovely little gift continually blooming. It was the sweetest little flower sitting there. But this is an annual, right? Well, my little friend survived four seasons indoors and I had no plans to let it wither away like any other annual. So, I decided to cut a small shoot off the main stem and see if it would grow roots in a small jar of water in my window.And that it did.
Well, here we are, seven years later and that little boy is taller than me and in 8th grade! And I've been propagating that same little plant all this time. I have several potted in the house. I continue to take cuttings and place them in a jar of water and let them sit in my sunny window. I place them outside in the spring and summer and they really thrive, giving me more to add to my collection.
A few years ago, I started filling more jars with cuttings. I've now done this with coleus, sweet potato vine, geraniums, creeping jenny, a few herbs, and some terrarium plants that I have forgotten the names of. I still go out and buy annuals for my pots because I enjoy the vibrant colors.
I eventually fill a pot with dirt and transplant them or create a terrarium with them.
It's very easy to do this, it adds great color to otherwise cloudy winter days, and it's an inexpensive hobby that can be shared with your kids so they can watch something grow. And, Mom's...when your sweet little boy or girl brings home that lonely little sprig in their hand painted pot, guess what...you can keep it growing as long as you like!
xo
