Ghetto Greenhouse:Seed Starter

If you want to start a garden one of the cheapest ways to do so is to start your own plants from seeds. You can go out and buy a mini-greenhouse but why do it when you can make one. All you need is a plastic container (I'll use a soda bottle) some potting soil, and some seeds. The seeds you can buy or collect it doesn't matter. You can watch the video below on how to make a ghetto greenhouse, or you can skip below to the text and images. 

You don't need to use grow lights with this method either as we'll take advantage of the free light the sun provides. It's a really easy and cheap way to start plants for a garden that's either there for your enjoyment or for growing your own food.

After you've grown your seeds you can use it to beautify your home, or do some guerrilla gardening, donate them to charity or sell your plants for raise money for your favorite cause.

Who doesn't love plants?

(that was rhetorical)

You can see more stuff on one of my blogs.

You can also check out this as the seed starterseed starter blog entry. Check out the comments section for a couple of cool links to other people using this method.

Step 1: Get Your Tools Ready.

In this example I used a soda bottle but you can use anything around your house. It's a good way of recycling plastics. You need scissors, a soda bottle, soil, and seeds. The seeds you can buy or save the seeds from foods you eat and give them a try.

Step 2: Getting Your Ghetto Greenhouse Ready

Once you've cut your soda bottle in half make some holes in the bottom so that water for drainage. I take my scissors and just punch a hole in the bottom. You can use a screw driver or a soldering gun or a heated object that will melt plastic.

Step 3: Assemble Your Ghetto Greenhouse

After you have made your drainage holes in the bottom of your soda bottle. Cut some slits into the side about an inch long. Then fill with about four inches of soil. If you bought your seeds follow the directions on the seed packet so seed preparation and soil depth planting. Otherwise Google "seed germination database" to find instructions for your particular seeds. Now water your seeds by either gently pouring water in or sitting the container in water.

Once you've done that you can assemble your greenhouse by sliding the top on (hope you remembered the slits) and pushing it down tightly.

Step 4: The End Result

Once you've watered and assembled your Ghetto Greenhouse it's time to put it in the right location. I place them outside in the back yard in a very sunny spot and let them get rained on so I don't have to water as much I just make sure to check that they're not drying out or staying too soggy.

This is how I start all my seeds that require a cold dormant period (called stratification) and when the weather warms up it is how I start my seeds that don't require cold to germinate. You can also place them inside in a sunny window if you don't have yard space or you're trying to grow something like Citrus seeds in the middle of winter.

Once my seedlings have emerged I'll take the top off for about an hour a day for a week to get them used to the outside world. Then I'll plant them in containers or in the ground or I'll pot them up and share with friends and neighbors anything I have extras of.

This method can be used to start off anything from Perennials, to Annuals, to Edibles. You can even use this if you're growing under light indoors. Take your seedlings and grow a beautiful garden or plant up that ugly empty lot down the street for you. If you can't bake to save your life, consider a plant sale to raise money for your charity. You can find seeds really cheap in a lot of places like garden centers and even big box stores, like that place everyone hates. Or save the seeds from the foods you buy from your organic store and grow your own tomatoes, onions etc. And it won't cost you an arm and a leg to buy a seed starter and you'll save money buy growing your own.

Questions, comments, feel free to ask.

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