Gardening a little cheaper....

[fancie217]

every year my husband grows a garden, mostly tomatoes, peppers, watermelon pumpkin and a few other odd and end plants. We normally buy the plants already started by a nursery, but this year I would like to start the plants from scratch by ourselves. I am tempted to go out and purchuse the little green house thing that holds like 35 plants and all the likes to get it started... but.... How can I do it, well.... cheaper?

I read the article about using eggs and egg shells... but is there any other ideas or things I can use to plant with.

Should I get potting soil or soil from the garden?

Thanks, you guys have been a big help so far.

 

[farmerlor]

You CAN start your seeds in potting soil but they tend to grow quickly and get a little leggy. Your best bet is to use seed starter mix in little plastic cell pots or paper roll tubes. Keep them warm and give them light and water and off you go. You'll want to repot into bigger pots once you get to about the four leaf stage and that's when you can start giving them some very watered down fertilizer. Some ideas for keeping them warm and lit....if you have a small bathroom and room heater and maybe an extra desk lamp or two that works great. Use a fan to blow on the plants to strengthen them. Keep the room at about 80 degrees. OR you can use a heating pad under a cookie sheet and heat them from the bottom again with some kind of light source above.

 

[enjoy the ride]

Hooooo- heating pad under cookie sheet- I like the idea.

You can make your own soil by using composted plant material, a little vermiculite or something to lighten the soil and a little composted manure. It can be sterilized by heating it in the oven to kill fungus and bacteria that can damage seedlings.

 

[patandchickens]

I (and my whole family of serious gardeners) have had MUCH better more reliable results using all or mostly purchased medium for starting seeds. Doesn't have to be labelled 'seed starter', just has to not have any fertilizer added (read the fine print). If you want to make your own, use GOOD loam cut in about equal parts with sand and/or finished compost that has been finely screened.

You don't need a plastic greenhouse thingie at all. Unless you have a VERY VERY bright location you will get better results with lights, though -- recommend a $15 shoplight (4' fluorescents). The ones with 4 tubes are better than the ones with just 2 but more expensive to purchase and run, and it depends how many seeds and of what kind. Find/make something to hang it from, ideally by chains so its height is easily adjustible.

You don't need a heating pad for most seeds unless you're in a basement or your house is *very* cool.

You can often get used pots or cell paks from friends/neighbors. If you prefer to start your seeds in flats and prick them out into pots after they've got a pair or two of true leaves then lots and lots of household containers, like piepans or whatever, work fine as flats. You can also make newspaper pots (you do NOT need one of those fancy potmaker doodads, just a small can of tomato sauce) but honestly I've not had the best results with them, myself.

Really it does not require spending much, if any, money

Have fun,

Pat

 

[Dace]

I agree with buying seed starter soil...it is light & sterile and you will have better results. If you get it out of your garden you need to sterilize it and I hear that baking off garden soil in your oven is smelly

One thing that I have done for the last few years is to start my seeds in Ziplocks. First I use either newspaper pots (you can google how to make them) or plastic cell packs...I plant the seeds and water well...then I place the containers inside a gallon sized ziplock bag (picture the bag laying flat and sliding cell packs inside), label it with a sharpie so I know what I have planted. The bag helps to retain the appropriate moisture level until the seeds sprout. As soon as they do, I cut away the top portion of the bag so that they get air but the bottom (wet) half is still contained in the plastic bag.

Now I will admit that this is a tremendous waste of plastic bags but I have never had better results starting seeds since I started using this method. Warning though, you must check for sprouts daily because they will mold almost as soon as the break through the soil!!

Also for added warmth I keep my seed starters in my laundry room where it is just a tad warmer.

Edited to add....I like to keep my seedlings near a window that I can open on nice days so that the seedlings grow stronger from the breeze...but I also live in an area where a cool winter day is low 60s. As Pat said a fan works well too.

 

[me&thegals]

Ditto on everything Pat said. I started with a long plant light hung from 2 hooks in the ceiling, adjusting upwards as the plants grew.

Another very easy, cheap method is called winter sowing. I think their site is wintersowing.org. There's a thread about their free seeds on TEG. Basically, any cold hardy plant is seeded into recycled containers and covered (like a little greenhouse), then left outside. When the weather warms a bit, the mini greenhouses warm enough to sprout the seeds. Anyway, they can tell you about it much better than I. It would eliminate the need for heat and light sources...

 

[Beekissed]

You can also utilize the 4 ft. lights on an existing book shelf, or other appropriate area in your living area. There was a whole article and pics about this in MEN awhile back and I plan to steal their idea.

I'm building a frame from 2x2s for holding my flats and my shoplights. I intend to place this in my bedroom, right by the chimney that goes up through it~very warm! I also plan to line some cardboard shields with tin foil and place them on the outside of it, to reflect the available light. In the MEN article, a lady had done this in her living room, using her book shelves.

I saved my flat and cells from last year, so I'm covered with this, but you can search the MEN site for their pics on how to convert toilet paper tubes to seed pots. You can also do it cheaply with the egg cartons. Some use styrofoam cups.

I plan to mix my soil from a commercial seed starter mix and my best compost. I've heard of sterilizing the soil but I can't imagine myself doing this, as I want the natural nematodes in the compost and don't wish to kill them.

 

[supermom]

What is the "MEN" website?

 

[patandchickens]

Mother Earth News magazine

www.motherearthnews.com



Pat

 

[ams3651]

i buy tomato and pepper plants because I dont have much luck starting them but what I do start I start in peat pots, you can get them from Lowes, etc. They are dehydrated little disks that you just add water too. They can come in a plastic tray with a cover that you can use for several years, I put it out on my porch on sunny days. Watermelon and pumpkin grow so well on their own they do really well just planted right in to the ground.