Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Seed Starting

Last year's garden was amazing! Last year I decided to jump head first into vegetable gardening with a 300 square foot garden! This year, I upped the ante by starting more vegetables from seed!

I began dreaming of ways to begin as inexpensively and "green" as possible! A friend sent me a YouTube video for paper seed starting cups, and my wheels started turning!

I began with single sheets of newspaper... you know, the "bonus material" that comes with the coupons each week? I cut strips that were 3 1/2 inches wide, and I rolled them around a shot glass. I used a mailing label to secure the rolled paper, since I have experience that wet tape does NOT hold its sticky properties!

Roll you newspaper around the shot glass several times, making sure to leave about an inch of paper extending beyond the lip of the glass. Stand your shot glass/mini cup up, and gently bend in the 1" overhang paper towards the center of the glass.

When you are finished bending the overhang paper, this is what the bottom of your paper cup will look like!

Don't worry if it doesn't stay perfectly tucked after you slide it off of the glass. Once the paper cup is filled with wet potting mix, it holds its shape well!

I have been scoring incredible deals on strawberries lately (Yay for FREE fruit!) and I saved a few of the containers to use like mini greenhouses! I fit 8 seed starters per container.

Fill each paper cup with soaked (but not dripping) seed starting mix.

I'm so excited!!!

The toughest decision is deciding what to plant! These are seeds that I saved from last years green bean plants! I've got my fingers crossed!

Next, add two seeds per paper cup- two seeds help to ensure that at least one of them will germinate and grow!

Lastly, place your seeds in a warm and sunny window, watching daily for your seeds to sprout! Obviously, they will need to be watered!

7 comments:

Ellen

good ideas!

Lydia

Love the creativity! You almost have me convinced to try it. Problem is we have very few sunny spots in our house AND only abut a 4 ft x 2 ft plot for a garden.

Julie

My husband is an avid vegetable gardener. Me? I've got two brown thumbs. We joke that I'm not allowed into the garden. I love to see all the produce that comes from the garden, and I'm still learning new ways to preserve it so it lasts until next summer.
Good luck with your garden.

Laura Webber

Gardening, for me, is a great outdoor hobby with benefits! Boaz (my two year old son) LOVES spending time with me in the garden! Its great bonding!

Anonymous

Great ideas, Laura. This actually seems doable for me! I "rent" a plot in a community garden and we're getting excited to do it again this year. I think starting our own seeds is a good learning experience for my youngest son.

Thanks for the motivation!
PAM

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