Starting Your Plants From Seed

This year I started my plants a little late in the season, however the method that I managed to use this time made the seeds germinate super fast and the plants are growing amazingly.

Here's something I learned from the first year of starting seeds early; don't use the compostable natural planters. I'm talking about those tan colored cups that you can just plant into the ground. I was smart enough to mark them with sharpies, and while the sharpies didn't fade or run with the water, the mold that grew on the cups molded over the sharpie writing and I ended up planting a bunch of tomato plants and none of the pepper plants I planted and tossed because I thought they were tomatoes. Also, they were extremely difficult to keep. Because the outside cup was compostable, it ended up getting soggy and breaking or tipping over when I watered them. I thought maybe it was because of overwatering, but again, since they were natural material they sucked up more water than the potting soil!

This year, I used some planter cups I found at the dollar store, but ended up having the light bulb go off when I realized I could use plastic cups, too, and we had a whole bag from a party we had last summer and never used them. I also found a tray that we had left over from our hydroponics garden (yep, we got one of them, too, and that one is doing fantastic!) and I used that to keep the cups in and keep them moist. I also found that putting some epsom salts into the water solution helps plants to grow nicely. Once they germinated I put them under the solar lamp that my dad made. I will have to do a tutorial on how to create your own solar light since the one we made cost a mere $20 instead of the pricey grow lamps you find in stores and online. 

Here's a picture of the beauties after 2 weeks:

The clump in the center of the picture are all the extra seedlings that I had to thin out. Putting them directly into the epsom salt and water solution has kept them pretty nice for now. I don't have any more trays to keep them in with water, nor do I have any room underneath the grow lamp (below), so they will have to stay there until ready to plant. 

Also, a really good tip that I thought of this year is writing labels on each of the cups of not only what the plant is, but all the specs of that specific plant. For example, how many days till germination, how much sunlight, etc. Also, I stuck it on with packing tape to avoid any seepage of the sharpie marker. See that? Always thinking ahead.

Above is the grow light that we fabricated out of some metal tubing and a light bulb. The tubing acts as an excellent reflector and also a heating element. Notice the fan alongside the table, to keep both the plants and air moving.

I will post pictures before transplanting.

Bonus! I read online that apparently Home Depot recycles the plastic planters their trees and plants come in. Several sources have said that just by going in and asking to take them off HD's hands, they can score free plastic planters such as the one in my picture. Mine, however did not come from HD, but it is a recycled one we had gotten last year.