Early Seed Start Method Made Easy

Early Seed Start Method

Early seed start are sometimes a problem as they tend to take up a lot of room inside. We Doowans found an easy way to early vegetable and herb seed starts for winter sowing outside. With this Early Seed Start Method being the Eco=friendly Doowans that we are. We have learned to use stuff that we already have, therefore we recycle the stuff that others may throw away. This Early Seed Start Method is easy and requires no special skills, gardening talent or fancy equipment. Which makes it great for the new gardener to gardening magic.

Early Seed Start Method for early Germination

What one needs for early Seed Starts

Chances are one has everything they need for this Early Seed Start Method. All one needs are plastic gallon milk containers, vegetable and/or herb seed, starting soil or compost, duck tape, and a knife or scissors to cut the milk containers into mini greenhouses. Oh, any plastic semi clear gallon container will do provided there were not harsh chemicals in them.

Early Seed Start Method We all started from Seed

Early Seed Starts Method

Here’s how one goes about this easy method. Take the plastic containers, be sure their rinsed out and cut around the container about four inches up from the bottom leaving about one to two inches uncut just under the handle. These are just for early seed starts. Once they get going one will need a place for transplanting. Keep the lids as one may need them later. One can leave them off or punch holes in the top for air if used. The top half of the milk contain will be the top half of the mini greenhouse. Cut a few holes in the bottom of the container for drainage as well. One could label the container this helps when different seed types are planted. The duck tape is used to seal the mini greenhouse after it’s ready.

Add the starting soil in the bottom. We found that starting soil is best as it gives the seeds a chance to take root because the soil remains less compact. Has less fertilizer in it giving the seeds a fighting chance. Place seeds at recommended depth. Water the soil and then duck tape the top half to the bottom half. One has just made a mini greenhouse for early seed starts.

Now place the container out side where they will receive the suns warmth. Don’t be concerned about the weather. What’s awesome about this early seed start method is one can even place them out in the snow or cold weather. When the seeds receive the right conditions they will start to germinate. The mini greenhouse requires a lot less watering as the condensation collects on the inside of the container watering your seeds. However keep an eye on them in drier climates.

There are variations on this method and experimenting is half the fun. What we did was to take old newspaper and wet it. Then rolled it around some old glass jars flattened the bottoms and dried them out next to the fire. After they were dry the glass jars are removed from the paper. These made little planting cups that we placed inside the mini greenhouse this way we can just take the cups out of the mini greenhouse and plant them in our raised planting beds without disturbing the root system. The paper just dissolves after a while in the garden soil. Plus, we used less starting soil to cut our costs. This paper cup Early Seed Start Method takes more time. But it makes a fun project with children.