I really had planned on starting my seeds much earlier than this past weekend; and by that, I mean like in the beginning of February when I started buying seeds. However, at that point I had thought we would be moved into our new home by now where I could garden freely. As it is, we are not moving yet, and probably won't within the next six months or so. So I finally conceded and got down to planting! No use in moping around and neglecting my other plans just because one hasn't come to fruition yet. I gathered up my things and set to work setting up my work space.
The bag of organic seed starter mix pictured here was purchased at Walmart for about $2 and is a quart of soil. The rest of the things here were materials I already had sitting around the house: toilet paper and paper towel rolls that I recruited everyone into collecting for me for the past few weeks, three cheap chinese food containers that my father-in-law hoards, an old ice cream container for mixing the soil, and a jar of water. That simple! I also purchased some gardening gloves that were about $2-$3 per pair for Gabe and I, which will be shown below.
Certain plants are recommended to be started indoors before the last frost date. Each seed package will tell you whether they should be started indoors or outdoors. Tomatoes and peppers are some of the most common vegetables to start indoors, so I gathered up their seed packets shown here. The Burpee brand packets (with one each already opened beneath them from last year) were purchased from Tractor Supply Co., which had a much wider variety of organic options this year. I even found organic corn there (Seeds of Change brand) that I was very excited about! The Ferry-Morse brand was purchased at Lowe's Home Improvement. The Burpee packages say they are $3.19, but I think I actually got them on sale for $2 and some change each. The Jalapeno peppers were about the same at $2.40 or so with tax included. I ended up not even opening the newer tomato and sweet bell pepper packets because I used the seeds from last year that I'd discovered hiding in the pantry! I also found seeds for sweet peas and a gourmet lettuce blend from last year, so I decided to plant the lettuces as well. The lettuces don't necessarily need to be started indoors, as most do well with cool weather, but I plan to plant them outdoors as soon as they sprout.
Gabe and I started out by mixing our soil in the ice cream tub. I just eyeballed the amount of water I used and only mixed half of the bag at a time. I tried to get the soil to a springy, crumbly consistency to start out with. I let that sit and soak up all the moisture while I prepared the Chinese food containers to accommodate drainage.
I suggest using something other than a screw because I had sore fingers after only these three containers. Also, don't worry if they crack because you're never going to use them for food again anyway! At this point, I took our operation outside to the back porch (FIY do not do this in your kitchen with a two year old unless you like cleaning up messes lol).
Sam the Scarlet Macaw was our companion on the porch since it is finally nice enough to bring his cage outdoors during the day! He (mostly) behaved himself.
Here I am preparing to mix more soil after using up the first half of the bag! All I did to fill up the tubes was hold one in my hand with my palm covering the hole and drop clumps of the starter mix into the tube without packing it. You don't want to pack the soil so that the seeds will have room to start their roots. Once I filled all of the tubes and a recycled paper egg carton, it was time to plant the seeds! Each seed packet will have instructions on how deep to plant the seeds, but the general rule of thumb is to plant them 3x deeper than the diameter of the seed. In the case of all of my seeds, the recommended depth was 1/4". I used a pair of scissors I'd already been using to make a little hole in the soil. For the tomatoes and both types of peppers, I dropped three seeds in each hole for good measure. With ten tubes in the tomatoes and sweet peppers, I planted 30 seeds, with plenty left over in the packet. I used nine tubes for the Jalapenos, so there were 27 seeds planted. For the lettuces, I really did not count how many seeds I planted in each little egg pot, but it was several since they are tiny seeds.
All done! To water my seeds, I use a spray bottle on mist. I sprayed them once after bringing them inside and once two days later (yesterday). I may spray them a little today as well. I have not seen a difinitive answer on how often to water seedlings, but I'll just play it by ear and whenever the soil looks a little dry, I'll give them a little soak. I haven't covered them with anything because it stays about 72+ degrees in our house most of the time, so I figured they would be okay! Hopefully by next week we will have some sprouts!
I must make the disclaimer that I am a complete novice gardener! I have done some research on the best ways to start plants indoors and the most natural methods, but my methods are by no means the only ones! Find what works for you and start on your own journey to self-sufficiency! Stick it to the man by growing your own food and making sure you know every ounce of what went into it!
The plans for my square foot garden are evolving with time. At first I was sure I wanted to go with a wood frame, but seeing as I am cheap and my father-in-law is unwilling to part with any of his lumber, it seems I will be using cinder blocks!
I found a great example on the Burpee Home Garden channel on Youtube! Take a look! I may go with a more complicated design, but we'll see. I'm still looking around, but have found some good pictures to go off of.
Well, until next time, see y'all later and happy planting!
-Sarah
Nice! You're making me want to start working toward prepping a garden! How cool!
ReplyDeleteIt is fun and fairly easy if you have the materials! You don't even really need to have a frame for a square foot garden...you could just till and dig up an area of your yard. But I found that last year the weeds were unbearable with that method...Raised beds just help with weed suppression and make things a little more organized :). I started with things I knew we would eat instead of trying to be all fancy. Tomatoes were a must and they are fairly easy growers.
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