Money Saving Tips for Starting Seeds
Here are some of our readers tips on starting seeds…
Egg Carton Starters
I save money at the beginning of the year by seeding a lot of my plants and veggies in clean egg cartons, which I save during the winter season. I also place a pin through each egg placement for drainage when watering. When ready to transplant, you just pop them out of the carton with a spoon and place in the ground. Works terrific!
I also save coffee cans to cover fragile young veggies in the spring in case of a freeze which could kill them! Hope this helps! Thanks, S. Hendrick
Warm Spot for Seedlings
When you’re starting seeds for your garden, place the trays on top of the refrigerator. That nice even warmth will help them germinate. When they’re about 1" tall, move them to a sunny spot. Louise Reilly Sacco, www.FrugalYankee.com
Note from Tawra: I do this all the time and it works great.
Grocery Store Seed Starting
I buy a vegetable at the store and plant the seeds. I have so many papaya plants from one fruit. I am now taking the seeds and roasting them and then grinding them into a "pepper" for salad dressing.
I cut the eyes off of a few potatoes. I took large old plastic pots and put a shallow layer of soil and the eye cuttings into the pots. As the plants grow, I keep adding soil. This makes the plants stronger and grows more potatoes, and all for free.
I took cloves of garlic, broke them apart, and have lots of new garlic plants growing, also almost free.
Cuttings of tomato plants grow very well. I dig a small ditch and lay the stem into the ditch, leaving only a few leaves exposed. The roots develop rapidly, and new plants grow. I do not buy seeds or plants: I simply dry the seeds from a few tomatoes, and then plant them. The same goes for peppers!
I bought coriander seeds at the spice section of a grocery store, and I sowed them, a few at a time. Much cheaper than buying seeds, and the plants are wonderful.
I love ginger, and I did not know what it would do, so I bought a few roots at the grocery store. I now have about 12 ginger plants. They have not flowered yet, nor do I know how the roots will taste, but at about 40 cents, I am having fun watching them grow, and I am very hopeful.
I bought some dried beans in the grocery store, and ended up with wonderful bean plants around my fence, and a whole lot more dried beans, and the ones I cooked were delicious.
I also have about 15 banana plants that came from one small plant someone gave me. I freeze the peeled bananas, and eat them year round.
I grow all kinds of spices and herbs, and some of these reseed themselves. I divide my plants at the roots to make new plants. This works especially well for my lemon grass and tarragon.
My gardening area is rather small, at most 400 square feet total. I sure do love eating the fruit from it. I tried Nasturtium this year, and the flowers are plentiful and delicious along with my mesclun salad plants.
Oh, I live in Miami, Florida, Dade County. We have extreme heat and dry spells, along with rainy seasons.
Rosemarie Bailey
Landscape Fabric
I loved your gardening tips, especially using milk jugs as greenhouses for young plants that prefer to be warm, and the ideas for kids.
My vegetable garden tip is to lay down landscaping fabric and then plant. I start my own seeds so this tip is easy to use, I just cut an ‘X’ in the fabric but it could be used for direct planting of seeds too. Using landscape fabric saves me from having to weed, which I dislike, especially in the middle of summer when everything seems to be growing green and fast.
And since it doesn’t break down, you can use the fabric for years. -Paige
Note from Tawra: You can find landscape fabric for really cheap at yard sales. I got some free landscape fabric from a rebate at Ace. I have to say this stuff has changed my life! I used to use newspaper but now if the soil is good I will use landscape fabric instead. It is much easier to handle than blowing newspapers all over Kansas! hehehe
If you can’t find landscape fabric for cheap then just use newspapers. I would wet them, lay them down and then put mulch on top. You only need to wet them if it’s windy out.
Cheap Seed Starting
Hi Tawra!
I have a frugal gardening tip for you to use or pass along. I came across an easy, cheap and reliable method of growing seedlings, called winter sowing. It involves recycling milk cartons or other containers and using them as starting containers and mini-greenhouses for your seeds. Check out her website and FAQ: http://wintersown.org. I’m going to try it out.
-Sara R.
Note from Tawra: This is the way I sow my seeds. I use all the deli contains, pie containers, milk cartons, etc., that I can find and start my seeds in them.
Photo by: fotorose
The photo in gardening basic 2, is using brick -o-blocks. the part on the top, do you plant vegetables in there also? If not do you have any problem with grass growing inthe holes. Thanks
I was going to plant herbs and/or marigolds in the holes but never got around to it. Yes, we did have grass growing up through it but I just took some round-up and killed it twice a year.
What about other practical tips like reducing cell phone costs since that’s a bill tht affects lots of people everyday or how to cut down on landline phones costs. I’ve realyl been interested in doing that and I just keep finding blog after blog mentioning prepaid companies and I was wondering if anyone here really considers them a money saver. I saw one advertised at Target and Walmart called Net10 and I’ve heard their coverage is good but their price isn’t the cheapest out there…any ideas?
The best way to save on cell phones is not to have one. Most people think they are a need but they really are a want. Mike and I do have a pre-paid phone and it seems to work fine for us. We only use it now and then, don’t text and only when we really to talk. We don’t just do our daily “chatting” on it.
my son has a go phone from at&t .. and it doesnt come with a contract that u are locked in … hubby has a metro pcs .. again no contract .. my daughter and son in law have t-mobile phones but they are under contracts and well wished they werent .. we had sprint phones a long time ago and was under the contracts .. and i did have a virgin mobile phone for emergency use only ..
our cell phone (metro pcs) is only for emergencies or for long distance use only (he is disabled and if he needs to get a hold of one of us or if there is an emergency he has it with him all of the time) ..
the prices seem to be the same for ones with contract or not ..
i personally never take a cell phone with me bc i have noticed that if there was an emergency someone has a cell phone and will dial 911…
if my hubby wasnt disabled at all and if there wasnt a need for one (like there was when we delivered newspapers, then it is recommended u have one bc its the middle of the nite and well just in case) .. then we wouldnt have one at all ..
like tawra said .. its another expense .. is it a want or need.. that is the best ?? of all ..
and as far as long distance charges, there was a time when we all didnt have a cell phone in the house (when hubby was first disabled) and i used one of those long distance cards that u can top up or buy new ones at the cumberland farms (gas station) .. and it worked well for me .. or my family just called me ..
or we just do facebook or email each other too ..
and if there was a disaster (hurricanes, tornadoes, etc) .. not sure if a cell phone or even the landlines would work ..
so not sure if any phone would come in handy at those times (hate to think like this but well, you have to) .. our neighbors, we all help adn look out for one another … and well i would like to think in time of a major disaster that we would come together and help and if someone’s has a phone or doesnt or has one of those radio’s that work on batteries we would spread the word out of what kind of help the local community will be doing or is asking of us (like when we had the hurricanes in 2004) .. just my opinion ..
again.. good ??? .. is it a need or a want.. and can u really afford it ?..
also bc my sister and her hubby are both disabled and bc they are low income the state gave them a cell phone in case of emergency for free .. not sure if all states/counties etc.. do this but you could check this out .. they live in nj ..
sorry so long ..
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As a UC Master Gardener volunteer, I take hotline calls about garden problems. One caller had a disease on her tomatoes, and she had grown potatoes in that garden last year. By checking the internet pictures that I sent her to see, she told me the disease looked like the Potato Blight! All the symptoms fit. This is the same Potato Blight that wiped out the Irish potatoes. It also attacks tomatoes! It destroyed her tomatoes Though my dad grew potatoes from the grocery store, I feel it is risky. Buy clean seed potatoes. Avoid bringing disease into your yard.