After mistakenly spending thousands and trying every sort of technique available (in all the books I purchased), I finally stumbled on the simple way to start seeds inexpensively.
Let’s cover the ‘basics’, which in Indiana means tomatoes and peppers. For numerous reasons these two types of veggies (well actually a fruit and a veggie) love Indiana weather. Heat, humidity, soil, the amount of rain and sunshine: everything about Indiana summers contributes to the best tasting tomatoes on Earth. Peppers also do well here and taste great.
Tomatoes are expensive in the supermarket, and nine times out of ten, horrifically pathetic in taste and texture. Peppers seem awfully pricey too. Can we do better in an inner-city garden? Absolutely!
February/March is the time to start seeds, so let’s look at what it takes to get seeds to sprout before Spring gets any closer.
The only materials needed for starting seeds are
• Seeds
• Dixie cup or plastic cup or coffee cup
• Peat starter pellets (“Jiffy Pots”)
• Egg carton
Seeds can be had free at your local seed swap or through friends. Worst case scenario is to buy a pack or two at a discount store for 50 cents. Dixie cups or plastic cups are probably overflowing in your cupboard so no worries there. Peat starter pellets? Available at every hardware store. You don’t have to have these; you can use potting soil instead if you have some lying around. Egg cartons are free and easy to obtain.
What about mining a supermarket tomato for seeds? That won’t work: you cannot reliably start tomatoes from supermarket tomato seeds. Supermarket tomatoes are hybrids, and they will not create new tomato “starts” reliably. You need open-pollinated or hybrid seed itself, which usually involves a purchase or a friend who also gardens.
What about substituting backyard dirt for those pricey peat pots? Dirt out of your backyard isn’t the best way to start seeds indoors. It has too many weeds in it. Jiffy Pots are sterile and provide the perfect environment for seed starting. Jiffy Pots in a 25-pack can be had for ~$2.50/bag.
Follow these steps to sprout seeds for tomatoes and peppers:
1. Pull out two plastic cups or dixie cups from the cupboard. Label one “Tomato” and the other “Pepper” .
2. Fill each cup about 1/4 full with tap water. Let that water sit overnight to warm up. Room temp tap water is what you’re looking for before proceeding to step 3.
3. Sprinkle a dozen or so seeds from your tomato packet in the “Tomato” cup; sprinkle a dozen or so seeds in the “Pepper” cup. Stir the water inside the cup and set aside. 3. Wait 24 hours.
This soaking gives the seeds a head start. They’ll be ready to sprout now that you’ve soaked them. So let’s plant!
1. Pull out 12 Jiffy Pots and expand them by placing them in a bowl of warm water.
2. Divide the egg carton into a section for tomatoes and a section for peppers (use a Sharpie or pen to mark which side is which).
3. When the jiffy pots expand, put a jiffy pot in each egg tray in the egg carton.
4. Using a butter knife, dip the knife in the Dixie Cup and slowly extract two or three tomato seeds from the cup.
5. Put two or three seeds into each Jiffy Pot (multiple seeds is ‘insurance’ to ensure something sprouts). Push each seed into the soil a 1/4”. Repeat for each seed. Make sure all the seeds are covered by soil.
6. Finish the tomato side of the egg carton, then repeat for the pepper side. You will use 12-18 seeds for each plant type (2 to 3 seeds per Jiffy Pot x 6 Jiffy Pots for each plant type).
7. Close the top of the egg carton and place it somewhere warm, such as on top of the refrigerator or close to a radiator. You want the seeds to be warm (around 70-75 degrees).
8. Wait four or five days, then take a peek.
Sprouts! The sprouts do not need sunlight for a few more days, but eventually they will. When the sprouts are 2-3 inches tall, put the egg carton in a window and start watering the Jiffy Pots each morning. Eventually you will need to move each one to a Dixie Cup full of potting soil to allow each plant to continue to grow.
That’s all there is to starting seeds inexpensively!
