Weapons of Mass Plant Production


This year, I finally feel like a real gardener with all of this seed planting and transplanting going on in the dining room.  This photo is a little outdated. In the past, I've been horrible with seed starting. Some how I always ended up killing everything and ended up buying plant starts at the nursery.

This year is different. First, I have invested in some pretty cool and rare seeds that you can't find at the nursery. Second, my imaginary budget is shrinking, so I don't have much to spend at the nursery for plant starts.

I randomly decided to watch some of Martha's dvd's on Netflix which I think is just her network show series. Watching a few episodes boosted my confidence to help me master seed starting. Here are a few tools I'm using to help me.





1 - Water Bottle. I picked up a new spray bottle just for water at the discount store for pretty cheap down the street. I don't know about you, but this is a good way to prevent drowning the seedlings or blowing them over. This was life changing for me in my seed starting career.


2 - Recycled Garden Pots. For once, my hoarding came in handy. I've been keeping the small pots thinking I might need them later, and I'm glad I did. I even kept the trays to set them in. Do people really buy these? I'm sure I would have used anything lying around the house before I purchased small pots.

3 - Tongue Depressors. Not only am I horrible at seed starting, I'm also horrible at labeling my starts that I attempted to start. I picked up a pack of these at a hobby store for a few dollars. They are worth every penny. I ended up cutting them in half.

4 - Heating Pad. (Not shown in the photo) but I found this very useful. This is just your standard heating pad. I've used mine in the past for making yogurt. Since spring seeds need warm weather to germinate, I thought I'd give this a try. It wasn't an official study, but I think it worked great to kick start.

I may not be an expert quite yet, but I'm feeling pretty good about starting seeds now. In the future, a grow-light would be a great addition to the system.








credits & resources: my photo // marthastewart.com // amazon.com // ecoyards.com

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