Once you start to garden you don’t need to be a genius to see that growing your own plants from seed will be a great way to save money. Most of the seeds for our garden we get at the local discount store for a dime a pack. While not a fancy "new" variety of plant they are tried a true varieties that are fine for a home garden. We also try and get non-hybrid seed so that we can save our own seed from year to year, or trade seed with other gardeners who save seed. Check with your local garden club and the online seed savers clubs!

Once you get all your seeds you need somewhere to grow them. I’ve found plastic foam egg cartons work just fine. Poke a hole in the bottom, and put sterilized garden soil in them and plant away. This is fine for the fist true leaf stage, But then you need bigger pots. Old yogurt containers, and small butter tubs are fine, but you can make your own pots of newspaper and other scrap paper! This have the benefit of being
"plantable. "

You can rip down the side and place the whole paper pot in the ground without disturbing the roots!

And they are made from scraps.

Many molds are sold online at gardening sites to make these, but you can just use and old yorgurt tub (or size appropriate) as a mold ---for free…

To make paper pots, just tear newspaper or other scrap paper to double the width of yogurt cup. You can use and old one to measure. Dampen the paper . Wrap it around the yogurt cup to size it with some ove the top and bottom. Pop the cup out, and fold the top edge down. This will hold the shape. To form the bottom, just fold it in. Turn them upside down to dry.

When dry add the dirt and move the smaller transplants inside them. Place them next to one another in a larger container to help hold the shape while watering.

The larger containers I use are plastic milk jugs with the tops cut off, or waxed milk jugs cut up the side.
They hold the transplant containers just fine, and make watering a moving them about easier.

For plants that need large containers before transplanting like pumpkins I use the plastic milk jugs or old plastic containers with the tops cut off. They work fine as house plant containers too! You can just place them inside old baskets to make them suit your decor!

Check out these sites for more ideas!!

SEED SAVING:
Online Seed Swap
https://www.garden.org/seedswap/

Seed Savers USA
https://www.seedsavers.org/Home.asp

Native American Seed Savers
https://www.nativeseeds.org/v2/default.php

Eastern USA Native Seeds
https://www.enscseeds.org/

Canadian Seed Savers
https://www.icangarden.com/link.cfm

Irish Seed Savers
https://www.irishseedsavers.ie/

Seed Savers Australia
https://www.seedsavers.net/

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Direct Garden.com
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