Using egg cartons as seed starters

Now i'm not the most eco friendly person out there, but I regard myself as um, "frugal" when at all possible (good way of saying cheap, no?). I'm sure this has been done before but here's the way I have done it and it worked out pretty well. These work like little mini-greenhouses.


All you need is stuff you already have at your house:
- egg carton
- cellophane or any type of clear plastic
- stapler 
- razor blade (or scissors)

first off, cut the top off the carton 

then staple the clear plastic sheet along the back side of the container. 
I used a tiny stapler and just bunched all the plastic inside the stapler and got a nice clean row of staples along the back.   -------->

finish the staples all the way around the carton. make sure the plastic is snug on there. I flipped a small flap of the access under the sides of mine and stapled it too.

make drainage holes if you want to add them... took the little guy, flipped him over and just made little triangle cuts with my box cutter low on the sides of the bottom of the cups. you could just run a hole thru the bottom too i suppose, the carton is recessed a bit under there on most of them...

and violà! you're done. My little seedlings have taken 
to it quite nicely.

I also started these same seedlings in the same conditions and only changed the container variable. I used a perfectly clear plastic egg carton, thinking I would cut my work and not have to mess with making a clear top myself (seeing as it was already transparent). I filled it with the same dirt, same lighting conditions, blah blah blah, and found that the ones in the styrofoam containers have many more seedings - about 4:1. My best guess is that since i planted them early in colder conditions, the stryofoam possibly held more heat than the thin plastic container. And for these warmer weather seeds, the warmer temp soil equaled better germination. Next year if i plant early again, which i probably will, i'll take it a step further and insulate them further by surrounding the containers in a bed of pine needles or leaves. I've yet to try the paper containers but my guess is that they will fall between the styrofoam and plastic containers in germination rates when planted that early.

Saw this on instructables and thought it was a very cute idea too. Using eggshells as starters. 

Rose Propagation

Started these a while back, sometime in Octoberish i wanna say. Took stems of some rose bushes at my mom's house and tried to root them. Followed the directions from my Horticultural Encyclopedia fairly well and have what seems like nice success so far.

This was the best growing one i have so far out of the 5 i have going. Check out all the new growth! I should have tagged them so i would have known which bush they came from but i guess now its gonna be a surprise. There was a 2 tone one that i loved and i'm hoping this is the one. All were large headed roses, probably floribunda. Read they take about 2 years before you can transplant them. Knowing that i started them myself i think it will be more rewarding and worth the wait.

Sprouting updates

Ok, veggies are miraculous. It surprises me just how quickly they come up. I read all over that gardening takes mountains of patients at times, which is something i severely lack; I figured that gardening might make me learn how to pick up a little of that. But I don't think i'll ever learn it with these vegetables. 45 to 60 days for most of the harvest seems like an eternity this first go-around, but seeing them grow so fast, all the exciting changes happening, it really doesn't seem so bad :)

Broccoli is coming along nicely, so are the lettuce, pea and spinach seeds.

broccoli lettuce (omg, look how close!!!)

spinach snow pea

Hollyhock seeds are being little troopers still for being planted so so early. Cold weather is coming back later this week (lows in the mid 30's... scary!!), but in the greenhouse packs i think they'll be alright.

Hollyhock in egg container

Larkspur in Jiffy peat pellets

The Larkspur seeds are just starting to come up, about 3 of um so far. I'm still waiting on a few that i planted: Bomera, Angel trumpet, columbine and delphinium. Haven't seen any signs of the daffodils yet either planted back in Nov. but they were planted under the mulch so i dont know if i have any real hope for them... we'll see. I know the Bomera is quite a wait for any signs of growth and that the seeds need to be sown as early as possible after they are removed. But with so many other things going at once I'm not going to watch that pot boil.

Came home today to find that my vegetable bed had been dug in. Now normally I would be HIGHLY irate about something like this, but whatever it was only dug in a single spot and in my lettuce. Since i needed to thin them anyway i wasn't too mad about it. I blame the dogs. We have a Rhodesian ridge back and shar pei mix, a neighbors basset hound that wanders over to the house all the time and a little boston terrier. My money is on the terrier, but Dad seems to think its some sort of raccoon or something. He says the dig was just too narrow and too clean. I donno... I'm thinking of possibilities to prevent anything else from happening but don't want it um, aesthetically unappealing. chicken wire wrapped around the entire bed is not what i wanna do. If this happens to my flower beds *deep breath* it will not be good...

Vegetable seedlings already?!?!

I was totally surprised. The lettuce has already started to come up. I can tell i did not thin out those seeds enough when i was sowing them... sigh, oh well. i'll just have to thin them out when they are a bit bigger.

It was planted on the 18th so that makes only 4 days! unbelievable.

First few seedlings!!!

The first of the Hollyhock seedlings have started coming up! it's only taken about 15 days and i already have a dozen little seedlings emerging from the soil. Phew! I was a bit worried about them since they were the first little ones i planted in such cold conditions. i planted roughly 48 of them so we'll see what sort of ratio i get from seed to sprouts are later on. i'm very excited about the prospects!

they were grown in little greenhouse containers i made out of egg cartons. sure i'm not the first one who's thought of that :) they seem to be working out pretty well. i simply cut the tops off them and put in some cellophane over the top, stapled in. very very easy to do. they have different types of egg cartons too: clear ones and brown paper ones. I'm sure that the paper ones you could just cut apart and stick right in the ground no fuss no muss. i would hope they didn't put some crazy chemical additive in the paper that would harm my little plants.

Good books to pick up

I have found a couple of books to be extremely helpful for novices (and probably more experienced as well)

first off the American Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Gardening by brickell. i go back to this book over and over again. it has a basic rundown of just about everything you would want to know. I've started some rose propagations from stem cuttings using the directions and they are working about just beautifully!

http://www.amazon.com/American-Horticultural-Society-Encyclopedia-Gardening/dp/1564582914/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264110228&sr=1-3

one i got from the library is

Month by Month Gardening in Texas: What to Do Each Month to Have a Beautiful Garden All Year by Gill, Groom. i almost didn't want to return it to the library! i've grown up in Texas all my life but knew nothing of gardening here. It gives planting charts that tell you what time it's appropriate to plant what and gives you details instructions on what to do each month: planting, watering, fertilizing, pests to watch out for. Just great. Has different sections for each type of plant too: bulbs, annuals, perennials, trees, shrubs, etc.

http://www.amazon.com/Month-Gardening-Texas-Month-Month/dp/159186237X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264110334&sr=1-1

Wow, where to start?

ok, I don't know how or when it exactly started, but i have it - the gardening bug. My family thinks I'm crazy b/c i've gotten so into this. Every 2 seconds they see me with some vegetable/flower/gardening encyclopedia in my hands. I actually get a bit excited and am loaded with anticipation as to what the new season might bring. Its an odd thing for me really, to be that jazzed up about something...

So lets talk about progress thus far... a few things i've been working on...

Starting on Flowers this year.

i've started a few things: Delphinium, Larkspur (a type of delphinium i believe), Hollyhock and Columbine. I love the tall stalked flowers for some odd reason. Initially thought that these little guys were annuals, but saw in the Burpee catalog that they are listed as full sun perennials. go figure. Planted them all Jan 7th. I know, i know, way too early probably to plant them, but i couldn't help myself. I kept them inside in some containers i made (which i'll post about later) under a grow lamp but it was still a bit chilly. Read that most of what i planted germinates in the 60 degree range, but we'll see how it goes. After a couple weeks in light i found out that the delphinium required dark to germinate (according to my gardening encyclopedia); who knew?

Couple bulbs got planted

planted some Ranunculus and Daffodil bulbs back in Nov 11th of '09. Planted them under some leaves i was using as mulch and think in hindsight it was a horrible idea. the Ranunculus i put in windowsill pots are taking off now and the ones under the mulch seem very stunted. Notes for next year i suppose! I guess they needed more light?

Vegatable garden started.

made an above ground bed for my vegetables about 4foot by 8foot roughly out of some old wood we picked up somewhere and some metal sheets with holes in them to fasten them together. i have some heavy clay soil here in south texas so i decided that i was going to make a bed with layers. first i put down a layer of leaves and th

en covered it with a couple inches of not quite finished compost i was working on (i know, should have waited, but i was anxious to get this stuff in the ground!). Then i went and bought some vegetable soil (2 bags 2 cu. ft. each) by miracle gro to put over the top of it. sectioned off pieces with wood and put in lettuce (simpson elite from burpee), spinach (bloomsdale long standing from burpee), and Snow peas for my father along the back (Taichung TC11 from Ferry-Morse). I plan on building a trellis later for the peas. Oh, and one more thing: this was probably a horrible idea, but i but sweet pea flowers inbetween the 2 rows of sweet peas... horribly close too. i figured it would be pretty to have the 2 growing together, not to mention fragrant with the sweet pea, but i have a horrible feeling i'm going to have to thin them out later. Read that if they are too cramped that the veggies they bare will be smaller and the whole plant less productive.

had some planter trays come in so i couldnt help planting some more cool season crops... i bought a tray and a pot maker from R.H. Shumway's and they threw in some experimental seeds, which i was quite suprised and happy about. So of course, i had to plant some of them right away! planted some generic "bean" that is a green type and bush of some sort and generic tomato (determinate) that went into some deep seed trays with seed starting mix. Went crazy and planted some broccoli seeds in some jiffy peat pot starter trays too. its way early for the tomato seeds but they were free so i figured i would see what happens with them.

i know, a lot of stuff. i don't have room for it all yet. i have lots and lots of yard but it's not prepared yet. maybe seeing little seedlings sprout up out of my seed trays will get my butt in gear! i have a horrible feeling about overburdening myself too... they say that maintenance is a heck of a task but i hope to stay on top of it.