Tuesday in the Garden: starting seedlings

I'm a whimsical kind of gardener.  I like to just throw some seeds in the garden and see what grows.  Now sometimes that goes well and I get some sturdy plants, other times nothing grows at all.  I am determined to have a vegetable garden this year and I am also on a budget.  If you are like me, I just won't pay $3-$4 for a seedling in a pot.  I would rather pay $1.50 or so and get a pack of seeds and get a dozen or two plants.  Then there are those "seed starting" kits you can buy that you just end up throwing out anyway...how much do they go for?  I have seed them ranging from $10 up to $30!  Too much for me!

I made a quick trip this morning to my local Dollar Tree and picked up two bags of potting soil (probably not the BEST potting soil, but dirt is dirt lol!), 4 covered cake pans, and 4 sleeves of Dixie cups.  All total $10.

I can fit 24 cups into each tray.  I bought four seed packs at Lowe's the other day for around $6. 

Today I am planting.....

Spacesaver Cucumbers

Summer Squash:  Bush type

Beefsteak Tomatoes

Hybrid Cherry Tomatoes

I poked holes into the bottom of each cup with my handy metal skewer...

....and them scooped some dirt on in!

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I put my seeds into a little cup to make picking them up and placing them easier.  The tomato plants were the hardest because those seeds are so darn small!

This is just a little pic of where I keep all my seed packets.  I got it at Goodwill a while back...it is an old file box that was well loved.  I like the color...it's very 70's!

I usually pick up flower seed packs at the Dollar Tree as well.  They have them 4 for $1.  Today I picked up some Cosmo's.  I plan on sprinkling them along my driveway and hope Mother Nature does the rest!

I labeled the lids and added two cups of water to the bottom of the pans and then closed them up. 

It should create a nice little green house for my seedlings to sprout. 

I only had 18 Summer squash seeds so we planted some pumpkin seedlings too!

And here we are on the deck basking in the sunshine!  You can already see the condensation!

Just a side note, I live in Zone 8 so we can pretty much plant all year!  I plan on direct sowing some of these seeds as well, but thought I'd start some seedlings as well in case that whole "direct sowing" thing doesn't pan out!  I'll post pics next Tuesday of our progress!

So all total for 96 seedlings I spent $16.  Not too bad!

I'd love to hear about your frugal garden ideas....:)

What's going on in your garden today? 

Sue