Gardening On the Cheap

I recently came across the idea of using empty toilet paper tubes as containers when starting seeds.  Since I'm almost always looking to save a buck, I decided to give this a try. It was also a great idea, since I had an interview for the local paper on gardening and they wanted to do a photo-shoot of me outside planting in the garden....which after the rain, was way too muddy to work in.

All I did was save up a few toilet paper tubes and scrounged up a few containers from my recycle bin.

I cut the tubes in half and set them in the rinsed out (washed in hot water/bleach would probably have been better, but...) mushroom containers.

I then filled them with potting soil, planted a chard seed into each one and watered just a bit and added just a bit more soil to the ones that sunk in.

An aside: It irks my hubby that we live on a farm and I had him buy dirt. But I told him that all our dirt was way too wet outside, so I think he's ok with it now....

Once I got the little seeds watered, I set them on the base of the cake container and popped the lid on.  I put the whole shebang on the baker's rack in the sunporch.  I might bring them inside...we'll see.

Once the seeds sprout, I will prop the container open so that it's not too humid in there for them. I don't want them to get moldy and damp off if it's too moist in there.

Time will tell if this works well....Once the little plants are fairly substantial, I plan to put them in the corner of the garden that will hopefully be dry(er) in a month or so.

I think I might mosey on out there and stick some chard seeds in the saturated ground of the garden, just to see which ones fare better. It'll be like a race, right? :)