No green house? No problem! My unconventional solution that worked great!
It occurred to me last year when I purchased a few bell pepper plants at a local green house that if I was going to give this gardening thing a real shot then I was going to need to start my own seeds. (The cost of buying plants being a little too high for my frugal self.) However, I had two major obstacles in my way, firstly I don’t have a green house so I had to start my seedlings indoors and secondly I don’t have a good south facing area in my home for decent sunlight. I tackled the first problem by going to my drawing board because the second problem isn’t going to be changing anytime soon. It came to me when I was at Walmart and I stumbled upon the perfect mini green houses. “Disposable” roaster pans with clear plastic lids!
(This is my first time planting seedlings so I fully expect(ed) this to be a serious learning experience! Also, you’ll notice, I’m starting very small this year with just a few different vegetable varieties!)
They were inexpensive (less then $4) and came in packs of two. From there I was confronted with the “traditional” plastic seed starting trays but that seemed like a really bad idea to me. Because I live in the northern part of Minnesota I am always dealing with extremely bipolar weather and that means it could be anywhere from mid April to early June when we would see our last frost. Of course I could always cover my plants once they were outdoors I didn’t want to take the chance of them getting too big for their containers and us getting hit by a late April snow storm! So I decided instead to put them in much larger containers and that took me to the disposable cup department and, $5 later, I bought around 50 styrofoam cups. Besides that my other purchase was a bag of organic seed starting soil and a bag of basic potting soil.
I spent around $30 all together and then an additional $30 on seeds. Why did my seeds cost so much? I purchased heirloom, non GMO, organic seeds off of Amazon knowing full well that I would probably be getting sent enough for this year, next year and probably the year after that too. And, I was right!
(sadly the asparagus seeds I purchased are no longer available so that link goes to the closet other product I could find on Amazon)
To start I set out all of my pans and then decided the best fit would be five cups in each. (My only complaint about the roaster pans is I wish they had flat bottoms!) The perfect tool for giving my cups drain holes turned out to be a bamboo skewer but anything with a sharp point would work fine. I made the holes by putting two cups together and pushing in the skewer through the bottoms of them five times and also through the sides a couple of times too. From there I filled them half up with potting soil and then the rest of the way with the seed starting soil.
I planted at least two seeds in each cup and then gave them a good misting of room temperature water. I planted three pans (fifteen cups) of cucumbers, one pan (five cups) of tomatoes and two pans (ten cups each) of asparagus, green beans and sugar snap peas. Within a week I had several seedlings up (and did a little dance) and within two weeks all of my cucumbers, tomatoes, green beans and peas were up. And then by week three my asparagus finally came up too! At that point my green beans were just going crazy and I had to leave their lids off of them because they were hitting their heads. I did so many pans of cucumbers because I saw no reason why my mom or aunt should have to go buy cucumber seedlings when I had enough space to grow plenty for all of us!
So, how did I deal with my second major problem of having no south facing windows? I didn’t really deal with it at all actually. There was only one place in my house by a window I had room to try this this year and that was in my entryway beneath two big west facing windows so that’s where they went. It is the brightest place in my rather dark home (love all of my trees but I really get little to no direct sunlight) ten feet across from those west facing windows are two identical east facing windows so though my little seedlings don’t get nearly as much sun as they want they still get quite a bit. This, however, still meant that my seedlings did get rather “leggy” which is something I knew I would be dealing with. Oh well. They are still healthy, ridiculously big already and doing great!
Next year I am going to address my sunlight problem. Have you seen these awesome shelf units on Amazon?
At $599 to say that one of those is a tad out of my price range is putting it mildly! But even if it wasn’t totally out of my price range it is still just a shelf with lights attached and, ya know what? I can totally build that! So, that’s going to be one of my projects next winter, I am going to build myself a grow shelf in the basement and I am very excited about it ๐
But, for now, my little seedlings are growing like crazy and I can’t wait to plant them in our new garden soon!
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I’m Tarah!
It’s been a hell of a ride since I started this blog and renovated and moved into this old farm house back in 2015. I got married, divorced, lost my doggo soul mate, spent two years as a single gal, remodeled everything, threw my back out countless times and was even found by an amazing guy in my own backyard! (The story behind Storyhardt Farm.)
Around here we’re totally fearless when it comes to bettering our home. We love to refinish old furniture, re-purpose old pieces, build it from scratch and totally renovate anything that needs it! If we can do it – so can you. We’ve got some serious plans for this old farm and, for first time ever, I have a real partner!
This is gonna be so much fun!
You can also find out more about the amazing Grandma behind this blog who moved in to this old farmhouse with my Grandpa nearly 70 years ago!
What an awesome idea! Thanks for sharing it!
Thanks Angela!
Best idea ever! Now I just have to figure out that south facing window part. Thank you for sharing with us this week at Celebrate Your Story, have a great week and have a Happy Holiday.
Thanks Sandra!!
Love the idea of the roaster pan! Save them to put over the small plants if you get a chilly night once they are outside. Also, look into Seedsnow.com. I got seeds from them for the first time this year and loved that I could get small 99 cent packs of heirloom non-GMO seeds… Might save some money over Amazon! Good luck with your veggies.
Thanks Heather!
Great job! Starting your own seeds without a greenhouse takes a lot of work and time. I am so busy that I start seeds in the ground outdoors and buy plants for those that would take too long to start from seed. ๐ Thanks for sharing with SYC.
hugs,
Jann
Thanks Jann!
Great solution! We have used similar salad containers and others from foods… and they worked very well. Hope you have a wonderful garden this year. ๐
Thank you!
I enjoyed reading about how you solved your problems. Those aluminum foil pans and covers were a great idea. I wonder if next year if you might rather use peat pots because then you could plant the whole thing. I have a baker’s rack by an east/south sliding door, and this year for the first time I bought a grow light and used twine to suspend it from an upper shelf. It’s working out well to augment the natural light and my plants aren’t as leggy and bushier. Looks like you’re doing great!
Hey Michelle! At one point a friend of my had a bad experience with peat pots. I was thinking next year I might just skip the cups entirely and just plant right there in the roaster pans!
I really enjoy reading your posts ๐ I read this and thought of your clever idea. http://treadingmyownpath.com/2017/04/13/zero-waste-diy-newspaper-pots/
If you’re ever feeling frugal enough to make your own newspaper pots – I like the idea that you can then plant the seedlings in their pots straight into your garden bed ๐
Great tip Helen, thanks!
Tarah, I bet with a bit of pressing with a flat tool you could flaten the bottoms of your foil trays. I’m thinking a potato masher. My Mom has done this all her life. She started them in the house and moved them to the green house then outside and finally into the garden in June. May your harvest be great. Sylvia D.
Sylvia, that’s a great idea! I was worried about if they were tough enough for that but a potato masher would probably work great. Thanks for coming by and commenting!
Great solution! I couldn’t spend $599 on those shelves either, but they are very cool. Thanks for linking up at the Home Matters Link Party! We hope to see you again next week:) #HomeMattersParty
Thanks Sara!
You have inspired me to give this a try. Thanks for sharing with us at #overthemoon. I’ve pinned and shared.
Thanks Sue!
I start my seeds in the clear container that strawberries or the clear container that you get take out salad in. I don’t put holes in container. I soak starting soil in water and plant seeds close cover. After seeds get about 1 1/2″ plant seeds in good planting soil in cups. Look at this web site http://www.southernexposure.com and http://www.heirloomgardener.com
Great tip! Thanks for coming by!
Such a great idea! Really want to try this out myself!
Thanks for coming by!
What a neat idea! ๐
I would love for you to share this with my Facebook Group for recipes, crafts, tips, and tricks: https://www.facebook.com/groups/pluckyrecipescraftstips/
Thanks for joining Cooking and Crafting with J & J!
Thanks Jess!
Gret idea and creative. It will save you so much money. I cannot wait to see your shelf project. Thanks for sharing your awesome idea at Dishing It & Digging It. Have a great week.
Thanks Linda!
I’m a fellow gardener, and I love this idea. Starting your own seeds saves tons of money. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Rhonda! I think next year I might just plant right in the roasters and skip the cups ๐
Be sure to harden off those seedlings before planting them outdoors to slowly acclimate them. Since they’ve been sprouted indoors, they need to be gradually exposed to outside (an hour or two a day til you build up)
Thanks Billie I’m planning on planting this weekend so I’ll be putting them out a bit every day until then!
Brilliant! It looks like you’ve found a great solution. No doubt your greenhouse shelf will be fantastic too.
We are frugal here as well and use toilet paper rolls, yogurt cups and tin cans for containers to get seeds started. All free and readily available.
Hope you get to transplant soon and watch your seedlings soar!
Visiting from Simple Saturdays.
Thank you Daisy! I’ll have to start saving toilet paper rolls for next year!
Great idea!! I pinned it to my gardening board ๐
Thank you Nadine!
Awesome idea! Thanks for sharing at Home Sweet Home!
Thank you Sherry!
Thanks for sharing at Inspire Me Monday. I wanted to let you know that you are one of my features this week. Come check it out at http://www.farmhouse40.com/inspire-me-monday-135
Thank you so much BonBon!
Love the idea of roasting pans!
And that you used non-gmo vintage seeds to grow your family’s food.
Hate the idea of using styrofoam cups. It is almost never recyclable and never goes away. So much plastic in our environment now!
If you go the route of planting directly into the roaster pan, you can cut cardboard dividers to section the soil and keep the roots from getting so intertwined.
Thanks Pat! I’ll be reusing the styrofoam cups next year, or use them for other things so I won’t just be throwing them away I promise! Thanks so much for coming by!
This is such a helpful post! Maybe I should try this next year ๐
Thanks for coming by!
When you try the grow light thing, don’t buy the really expensive grow lights. Go to Lowes or I’m sure Home Depot and purchase one blue and one red florescent tubes. Then you can hang them on a chain that you can move them up or down. Turn your pots with seedlings in every couple of days to get the best lights.
Thanks for the tip Liz, I’ll definitely use that when I get to building it!
I have no room for tables in front of my windows, but my window ledges are wide. I use wallpaper trays (the kind you soak the roll of wallpaper in), plant using pellets and cover with plastic wrap. The pellets let me easily remove the plants and they don’t take up too much room. The trays fit nicely on the ledges and I can reuse them for seveal years!
Great Debbie! I wish I had big window sills like that, I always dreamed of having a big bay window someday but we just didn’t have a place for it here!
I can just see your healthy garden growing from those little seedlings, you will have such fun in your new garden. Everyone is hanging out to see your shelf.
Kathleen
Blogger’s Pit Stop
Thanks Kathleen, so far we have eight peas ๐
What a good idea. I always have a difficult time growing veggies so this may be the answer.
It really gave me a big jump on my garden this year!
What a clever idea for starting seed I was lucky and got a greenhouse this year
Thanks Amber, I am so jealous I can’t wait to build us a little green house!
Perfect solution! Thanks for sharing this with us at the homestead Blog Hop!
Thanks for coming by Ann!
I love this idea, Tarahlynn! It’s frugal but oh so effective. Your seedlings look wonderful. I’m featuring this post at the Hearth and Soul Link Party this week. Thank you so much for sharing it!
Thank you so much April!
This fantastic post is a GARDEN feature on the March You’re the STAR blog hop: http://www.godsgrowinggarden.com/2018/02/youre-star-week1-garden-march-2018.html
Thanks
Angie
Thank you so much Angie!!
peat pots, tp or paper towel rolls, cups made from newspaper, all of these can just be planted with the sprouted seeds…anything BUT styrofoam! styrofoam is HORRIBLE for the environment.
Hi Hedy, that’s a very good point! I’ll be reusing my Styrofoam cups every year but a biodegradable alternative, especially something that could planted WITH the seeds would be a great alternative!
I love the shelf idea! That looks like a pretty straight forward DIY! I start my seeds in the cardboard egg cartons. I’ve also used toilet paper or paper towel empty rolls, cut to size and one end fold. Then I just plant them straight in the ground because the rolls disintegrate.
Hi Angie, that’s a great idea! I think I’ll be saving my empty rolls from now on. Thanks so much for coming by and commenting!
Try putting the tp rolls or cut down paper towel rolls into cupcake tins. Line the tins with cupcake papers first. They aren’t deep enough to grow the plants but with the tp and pt rolls, they are. When ready to plant, leave the paper liners on. Just cut the bottom out. It will disintegrate or you can remove it.
Great tip! Thanks for coming by and commenting, have a good weekend!
If you don’t have a window or window sill. You can purchase a small green house and start seeds in one of them. They move easily and you can move it to a sunny area or a shade area. The have covers on them so rain stays out . They run about $40. All the major big stores have them. A great use of space takes very little. When not using for plants can be used for garden storage items. Keeps you organized. Hope that helps.
That’s great info, thanks so much for commenting and stopping by!