Monday, November 28, 2011

Growing from Seed in Containers

I have talked about container gardening a few times in the past few months.  At the moment I have plants growing both in the ground and in containers.  I noticed recently that I have less of a pest problem in containers than in-ground.

Whether you live in an apartment (or tipi), a house or a farm, container gardening is a simple solution for low-cost, organic gardening.

Most herbs love containers.  A window box or small tray can produce most of your herbs for cooking.  A few easy starters include: Basil, Cilantro, Sage and Thyme.

My favorite veggies for containers include Peppers (all varieties so far), Lettuce and Spinach, Squash and Tomatoes.

It's not necessary to purchase fancy or expensive containers.  I prefer to use recycled pots and containers.  For seedlings, I have cleaned (sterilized) yogurt or cottage cheese containers and then poked holes in them for drainage.  When I ran out of plastic I used recycled toilet paper rolls. When I ran out of TP rolls I bought peat pots.

Get it? Cheap!

One item I did splurge on was organic seed-starter mix.  In the past I have mixed my own but this season I was behind schedule so I bought a bag. Gasp!  It wasn't all that expensive and it saved me a bit of time.  Drainage is very important for starting seeds.

For self-watering trays I re-use plastic or styrofoam trays.  When seedlings are ready to be transplanted there are several low cost/no cost options available.
1. Clean kitty litter buckets
2. 5 gallon utility buckets
3. Thrift store or garage sales
Use your imagination!  Decorate ugly buckets or pots.  Just because it isn't stamp "planter" doesn't mean it wouldn't make a great plant container.

Happy Planting!

2 comments:

Dave said...

Hi Mary. Thanks for calling at my blosite. I am also a gardener and grow my own plants from seed. Like you I think it's fun - Dave

Mary Smith said...

Thanks for stopping by Dave!