See part 1 (buying seeds) here.
This year I’m doing something new. Because I am super conscious of waste, plastic use, and wasteful spending in general, I decided not to use the starter kits from the garden center. I’m using recycled materials like egg cartons and cardboard. I also decided to buy a special compost mix from my Amish farmer to add to my garden for nourishment. Haven’t you ever wondered about what’s in that commercial compost mix? Me too. I’m not using it. I totally trust my Amish farmer and his goat compost mix. Yippee! Making your own compost is best because you know exactly what’s in it. However, not all of us are able to compost due to space or HOA restrictions. I have my compost hidden so my HOA has no idea it exists. However, I had an issue with poison ivy infesting my pile. There is conflicting data about whether poison ivy can compost without infecting the rest of the garden. I am not taking the chance. Instead, I am buying it from my trustworthy farmer.
Materials Needed to Start Your Seeds Indoors
- Gloves (optional)
Saved Egg Shells
- Eggshells and egg cartons OR saved cardboard tubes from paper towel or toilet paper rolls.
- Pin/toothpick
- Compost and/or starter seed mix
- Plastic wrap or glass to cover your seeds and create a greenhouse effect
- Filtered water
- Plenty of sunlight (10-12 hours a day – a window in a room with southern exposure is ideal) or use a special florescent light.
- Heating pad (optional, but very effective to get the most seeds to germinate)
How to Start Your Seeds Indoors
1) Use a pin to poke a hole in the bottom of the eggs shells.
Egg shells with hole poked in bottom
2) Fill shell with moistened seed starter mix and a little compost (if you have it).
3) Poke a hole in the soil and place two or three seeds, then cover seeds with soil.
Poke holes and place seeds
4) Label the seed that you put into the egg along with the date. (This is a VERY important step!!)
Label each shell
5) Cover with plastic wrap or glass and leave covered until the sprouts start to touch the glass/plastic.
Cover with plastic wrap
6) Only remove plastic after most of the seeds have sprouted. Check moisture but do not over water. Soil mix should be moist to the touch. I usually mist my sprouts once or twice a week and they do just fine. They may dry out quickly if you have the plants next to a heat source. Keep an eye out for this.
7) Over the next few weeks I will do a few more trays of seed so that I can have successive plantings to keep certain crops, like beans, from disappearing in early summer. I like to have a full summer of harvesting veggies that only yield for a short time.
Certain Seeds Do Not Do Well When Started Indoors
These veggies are best planted in the soil and not started indoors:
Dill – start in spring, just before last frost
Spinach – starts in early spring; it grows well in cooler temperatures
Kale- starts in early spring; it grows well in cooler temperatures
Chard -starts in early spring; it grows well in cooler temperatures
Carrots – starts in early spring; it grows well in cooler temperatures
Beans – start when ground temperature is a consistent 50 degrees or more. Frost will kill.
There might be others (like potatoes and other root veggies), but the ones above are the types that I have found to be ornery with an indoor start. One of the biggest drawbacks to starting seeds indoors is the amount of space that it takes on my table. From March through May my morning room is loaded with seedlings and starter stuff. Honestly, I hate looking at the clutter, but I find the two months of inconvenience well worth it when I am able to harvest a month earlier than most people in the area. It’s awesome that I can get tomatoes as early as the middle of July!
Next up: Transferring to larger pot.
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This is so weird. I was just going to start buying seeds for my first herb garden, so your timing for posting about this couldn’t any more perfect! I was going to buy from Burpee. NOT ANYMORE. Southern Exposure, here I come! Question: I was looking for peat pots on Amazon and I found Cow pots which claim to be 100% renewable composted cow manure. What are your thoughts on that? Do you think it’s commercial at all?
I’ve never seen the eggshell used in the starting process. Interesting article.
Robert, what do you use?
Thanks for this!! I’d never thought of using an eggshell too. I have held back on starting because I don’t have any sunny spots inside my house (we are surrounded by trees and porch overhangs or back porches! I didn’t know if I wanted to invest money in lighting inside (because I don’t have room for that either). What to do? I did find a place to buy seedlings but they cost as much as a packet of seeds… but I just might.
Just be careful of what was done to the seedlings if you choose to purchase them. Sometimes the growers use artificial fertilizers and chemicals. I got tired of the strange looks from the growers when I grilled them about how they raised the seedlings and figured it would be better to start the seeds myself.
Wow, I never thought of using eggshells for starting seeds, and why not?
I’ll be sharing this on my FB page.
Thanks for the tips. Very timely, as I need to plan my garden this month.
I have been saving toilet paper and paper towel rolls for a few weeks now to get ready to start some seeds. Do you cut them in half? I was wondering if I should cut the TP rolls in half, or whether instead I should leave them as is, fill them up about halfway, and leave the tops to be a protective barrier against cutworms when I transplant them but am not sure if I need to peel off the cardboard or if the roots (once transplanted) will become strong enough to penetrate through the paper. Any ideas? (Great post by the way!)
Rosalyn, I actually did a few with the cardboard rolls (just to test it out that way as well) and I did cut them in thirds. To be honest, I think I will use the cardboard next year instead of the egg shells because the transfer to a larger pot is actually easier. Because I transfer to pots before planting I won’t actually place the cardboard in the ground but I think this is perfectly acceptable to do and it will help your soil when it breaks down. I am not sure how much the tops of the cardboard will protect the plant from cutworms but it’s worth a try!
The use of TP tubes for cutworm protection is a good idea-however, I’d suggest you watch those transplants closely as I believe the recommended use is as a collar that just sits on the dirt surface, not as a tube that is planted in the dirt and then sticks up a bit. The issue is that the TP tube exposed on the surface will have a wick effect and could cause your plants to dry out. If you’ve ever grown things in peat pots & not planted that little brown “pot” deep enough, it gets all dry and can wick moisture away from the roots.
Dorothy, good point! Thanks for clarifying that.
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