Hi, Sam here. I’m going to actually walk you through this very simple step-by-step process of starting your seeds in this really cheap and effective manner. So like I told you last time, I got these packets from my local grocery store and I had four packs of 24 cells. They were really, really inexpensive. Remember these were super easy. They’re super cheap. And they will last me a couple of years’ time. So we are going to plant our leafy greens, just a couple of varieties to get them started so that when I am ready to put them outside, I will have them ready to rock and roll.
What You’ll Need
Potting Soil
Yes, many people mix their own. ME? I don’t have time for that!
Trays – as described in previous video
Large tray or something to put under your work area for easy clean-up
Spray bottle of water
Seeds
Craft/popsicle sticks or other markers you’re using
Marker
Process:
Add potting soil to your seed tray
Dampen with water (I didn’t have it handy in this video)
The Brussel Sprout seeds I’m planting are very tiny, VERY tiny, so I’m putting 3 in each cell
Cover lightly
Label the sticks with seed name, brand, etc
Use the sticks (or any fancy tags you’re using) to label your cells so that you remember what they are
Lightly spritz again with water
Key Tip: Check your seeds every day so they don’t dry out, which will stress your seeds and hinder growth.
Next time we talk, we’ll talk about other things I don’t like – called the determinant and indeterminant tomatoes. They have screwed me over many years in a row. So until next time, Sam, Sam Groff, from Beyond TP and Milk. Be sure to like, share, join our e-mail list, and start your seeds!
I’ve been watching a lot of my favorite YouTubers and they’ve been talking about the pros and cons of different types of pots, seed starting, and all those kinds of things. I realized they all have a way bigger budget than I do because they’ve been doing this for a lot longer and they have an income coming in from YouTube and all those kinds of things. I’m a hobby gardener, and still, I’m able to sustain food for my family. So what I wanted to look at is:
Let’s be reasonable about the average person, who might not have a whole lot of scratch lying around, who really wants to get started with seeds this year.
While shopping at Lidl’s today, I found these amazing trays. I thought they were going to be one-piece but in actuality, there are four – 4 full seed trays, full seed starters. The cost? $6.99 – for 4 full seed trays!
Each tray (4 in the pack) has 24 plugs plus the classic seed cover (for a greenhouse effect) and the water tray. So one pack will help you start as many as 96 plants! Let’s get going!
OOPS – no holes
So you can’t look a gift horse in the mouth, right! These trays are pretty inexpensive but no holes are in the separate plugs to allow for drainage. Instead of having to go buy hundreds of cell packs that I’m really never going to use, I decided that these would be better for us to start. And then what we’ll do is as they get larger, I’ll show you the way we transplant these in the Solo cups and then out into our garden. I don’t own grow lights. So I have a different method than what all the roles gardeners do.
Back to the holes:
I left the 4 packs of divider trays (for the plugs) together.
I had a hammer and a nail – a finishing nail.
I literally just went through them all together popped them out.
Now I have 24 holes in this lovely seed tray, ready to start filling.
Why do I tell you this? Because the reality is everybody who wants to start a garden worries about things going wrong and spending too much money. I don’t want to waste money. I can reuse these again next year if I don’t crush them, which is the goal. Plus the nice part about these is they come fully self-contained. They may not have a perfect seal, but they’ll be warm enough for the seeds to germinate.
Stay tuned, in another couple of episodes, I will show you what our method is without having grow lights and without having enough space in our house to really set up a true growing system. We do end up taking up a lot of room in our living room where we have the biggest amount of sunlight, but we do things a little differently mainly just because we don’t have space or the desire to get a grow light system in our house right now.
So if you’re ready, these super inexpensive plant trays. Look around your local grocery stores, your local Home Depot or Lowe’s. Try to get something small that you can maintain a manageable amount of your space.
And next time we will be planting our seeds. So until then, let’s do this.
What happens when you realize you are about a month behind for seed starting?
Do you give up? Hopefully, the answer is NO!
You still have plenty of time you just need to adjust what you are doing in your garden and prepare.
For my family, being a month behind means that we will need ‘starters’ this year. Instead of panicking like I normally do I just pulled out my journal, the trusty Farmer’s Almanac, plus a pencil and ruler to get started. After reviewing our needs for the year, I checked out my seed stash and headed to our local Tractor Supply Company. As you get to know me, you will realize that TSC is one of my all-time favorite stores. I even wear some of their merch, LOL!
Being a month behind means…
I will not be able to start onions from seeds this year for the spring.
I can try again for late summer into early fall for a second harvest, but only time will tell with that one.
That is why I bought $6 worth of onion sets to plant this year. If they do well, I’ll be up to my ears in onions and have plenty to share with my neighbors and friends.
Mind you, if you’ve never purchased onion sets – there are about 100 starter sets per bag. So even if only half work, I’m still going to be swimming in onions.
I want to take a moment and stress something. If you purchase starters or sets and have never saved a seed in your life, don’t let that stop you from trying. In the gardening community, there is a lot of shame often put on people about purchasing starters and not starting everything from seed. But if you are new to gardening or even a seasoned veteran, no one should ever feel shame in purchasing sets and starters. We all need a little help sometimes, but I digress.
If I want to plant brassicas (the scientific term for dark greens like broccoli, cauliflower, mustards, and cabbages), I will need to get starters from a local nursery. For Maryland, those should be coming in by mid-March. That’s when we will be ready to transplant anyway, so I should be okay.
The reason I want to have a spring planting of broccoli and brussels sprouts is that my fall crop was decimated by cabbage moths last year. Those cute little white moths that fly around in late summer and fall were downright mean! This year I will have to plan better and get bug netting to protect my plants.
So, a huge thank you to my favorite store for always having what I need for my garden!
Making do with what we have is the point of long-term sustainability in our home. So, stick around for our backyard adventures AND never give up, there is always more than one way to accomplish something. 😉👍
NOTE: There is currently no affiliation with Tractor Supply Company or Farmers Almanac. These are just 2 things I love and find to be incredibly useful in my own sustainable journey.
Normally I’m lazy and will buy my pizza from an amazing local pizzeria, Ecole’s or La Cucina. Both restaurants are owned by amazing Italian families who are fabulous at making pizza. Ironically though, when I get pizza from both pizzerias, I still must cut the crust.
Why? Well, as I’ve been making my own pizza now over the last year – thanks to COVID! I’ve learned a lot about dough. Pizza dough, for instance, is quite elastic, So a quick once over with a pizza cutter won’t actually fully cut the crust. In walks Ellie with her life hack that I never realized would work so neatly.
SCISSORS!
No, seriously, your kitchen shears can be used to cut almost anything. Some are so sharp they can cut through bone. Why not pizza?
Well, because frankly, I had never thought of it. I have a utensil specifically designed to cut pizza, so why wouldn’t that work. Short answer, because the dough is elastic and unless you press super hard on your pizza cutter and regularly sharpen it, that sucker isn’t cutting all the way through even the thinnest of thin-crust pizzas.
Recommendation: the next time you get your favorite pizza, be it from a pizzeria, grocery store, or you are making it fresh, use your kitchen shears or scissors to cut that pesky crust all the way through. Trust me – you will be thanking Ellie as much as I do with 2 kids who LOVE pizza!
There are predictions for potential snow, ice, cold temps … just … YUCK!
Are you ready?
There are some simple things to be ready. Have some foods that you can eat if the electricity should go out for a few hours or a day or two. What kinds of things?
tuna fish
peanut butter
bread with butter or jam
items in the fridge that will go bad
like yogurt, saladings, sandwich meats, milk
apples and other fruits you may have
cereals
cheese, crackers, pepperoni
canned fruits
snacks
Keep in mind that if it’s really cold, you can place some perishable items in a tin and put in the snow. Of course, most of the time our electricity is not off that long. The point is that when you know there’s a prediction of a winter storm, you can be prepared. Maybe have a gallon or two of water available for drinking. If you have milk, that will be one of the first things you’ll want to use up. Sodas and other beverages will be fine. Also, keep in mind that you can buy milk in a box that does not require refrigeration until you open it. If you have kids, this is especially useful.
Is this going to feel like a gourmet meal? Of course, not! But you don’t need to go hungry while you wait for the power to come on.
Sleeping Bags, Blankets, and Games
I would add that if you have sleeping bags, use them to stay warm. And if you have battery-powered radios, flashlights, lamps, etc, be sure you know where they are. Always be cautious using oil lamps and candles. If you happen to have a camp stove that you can use outside, you can also cook a small meal. That’s, of course, if the weather isn’t too windy and bitter.
But you can safely survive a bit of inconvenience and, if you’re creative, you can turn it into an indoor picnic adventure with the kids. Pull out some board games, make a blanket tent, dress in layers of clothes, and enjoy. A difficult time can become a memory that you’ll all share in years to come. Be smart. Think ahead. Be prepared.
The preppers and homesteaders who may be planning for the next 5 years (or the coming apocalypse) may need to do things differently. But for you and I just trying to use our common sense and learn from the past year, we can be prepared in simple ways.
Recycle, reduce, and reuse is more than just a methodology taught to children back in the 90s. It is really a way of life. This is something that our grandparents’ generation lived by, so why do we see it as a novel concept? This is one way of storing food for the short term, relatively inexpensively, and you can find them at your local bakery. They will probably be happy to let you have their wonderful food grade buckets on the cheap because it gets them out of their way.
Note that the storage can be easily rotated
… so that you can just have a few months ahead. But by planning, you won’t be running to the store the day before the next storm! And if the distribution chain gets delayed, your family will still eat well.
