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Plants that require a longer growing season than the summer season in Norway can offer must be started indoors. It is also good to pre-cultivate to get started quickly. In a school garden, it also means that you can have a chance to harvest something before the summer holidays. (See the plant list for tips on plants that are suitable for this). Leeks, celery, peppers, tomatoes and many herbs are examples of plants that do not have time to finish without pre-cultivation. It may be a good idea to pre-cultivate brassicas so that they are not so vulnerable to attacks from pests when they are planted.

Pots for indoor cultivation

When sowing indoors, you need pots. Small pots are great to make out of paper, are cheap, fun to make, are based on recycling, reduce plastic consumption and break down easily in the soil. For larger pots, milk cartons are great. Just remember to make holes in the bottom so excess water can drain out. Grape boxes, tomato boxes and the like work as mini greenhouses. Otherwise, any type of container with holes in the bottom can be used. Place the pots on a platter, in an ice cube tray or in old bread tins so that the windowsill doesn't get wet.

Making paper pots: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dIW3DhAd2s&t=52s

Common challenges with pre-cultivation in the classroom

• Too little light: From a little later in April, there is enough light in an east, west or south-facing window. If you have north-facing windows, you will need extra light and growing indoors will be a bigger project.
• Too hot: A south-facing window can get too hot. Tip! Paint sour milk on the windows to lower the temperature on the window sill a little. Once the sour milk is dry, it is completely odorless.
• https://www.viivilla.no/interior/solskjerming-inne/slik-froster-du-vinduer-med-melk/
• Too dry when you have sown. Place plastic wrap over the pots until the seeds have germinated. Remove the wrap as soon as you see small sprouts, otherwise it will quickly become too moist and you will have problems with mold.
• Too dry on weekends/holidays: Wait until after Easter to sow, or plan to let the plants go on Easter vacation to the students or others. Remember to water on Fridays and move the plants indoors a little before the weekend. The sun is not as strong there. Paper pots should be placed close together, and if you put a damp newspaper or towel under the pots, the water will last longer.
• Too much water: there is an art to watering appropriately. The soil should not be soggy. It should be damp, like a wrung-out cloth.

Tingling

A word you come across when pre-cultivating is pricking. What is behind this strange word? If you sow many seeds in the same pot and more than one plant comes up, you need to prick. When the seeds have germinated and have their first pair of leaves, it is time for pricking, and it simply means that you give the plants their own place to live. To avoid pricking, you can weed out extra plants instead, but pricking is a great activity that gets many children busy at the same time. Stick a fork or knife under a plant and lift it out. Try to get as many roots as possible. Some roots will always come out without any problem. Put the plant in its own pot, water it and keep it out of the sun for the first 24 hours. Chili and tomato plants should be planted deep in the new pot. Other plants should be planted about as deep as they were before you dug them up.

Demonstration of pricking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIXpivF_JTc