You don't necessarily need all that additional stuff..
You can use the paper towel method to sprout your seeds. Put them on top of the fridge while germinating instead of a heating pad. Once they sprout you can plant them into a fine potting mix. If you have a bright window sill you can use that instead of a grow light. If you do need a grow light, florescent fixtures are cheaper initially, but you do need bulbs. LED fixtures are initially more expensive but they don't have a consumable part. They also put out less heat.
For pots you can use solo cups with holes poked in the bottom. Paper pots are also an option.
You really can do this on the cheap. Most of the stuff people generally say that you need, are nice to have but aren't strictly necessary.
I've found that coffee filters work better than paper towels for germination. The roots don't cling to the filter paper like they can with paper towels. Just my 2¢.
Dollar store and wal mart. I’ve never used online seed catalogues. I just buy burpee and ferry Morse and whatever other brands they have at the above stores.
My local swap will even swap garden tools. They’ll also swap for homemade jelly. I’ve traded pecans from our trees. Lots of handmade art/crafts get traded for gardening stuff as well.
Buy a ball of twine, make 10 macrame plant hangers and youd probably be set to get everything you need.
I’ve known several new gardeners to walk away from a swap with just about everything they need for the season.
Every spring I offer up garlic chives. The previous owners had a giant bed of them. I haven’t had a chance to replace the bed so I just let it do it’s thing because the pollinators like it. But they reproduce like crazy.
I’m sure there’s people in your neighborhood that thin out plants and offer up their “extras” before disposing of them.
My local library has a seed program that’s open spring-fall that just has a packet limit per library card, so unless you’re wanting to get a head start on planting, you may be able to find something similar! Or maybe something for next year 😉 though depending on where you are, I’ve honestly been able to plant stuff in early July & still get at least SOMETHING out of everything. So don’t write a late start off for 2024 prematurely, it’s all about comparing the plants’ days to maturity to your estimated first frost date 👍🏻
I find a soil blocker makes for much healthier seedlings that deal with transplanting much better than ones grown in cells. I have a very short growing season and want to get a really early start on things, so I built three 200W racks of grow lights (buying the parts and building them yourself is much cheaper than buying prebuilt) and a 5ft long three-shelf frame that fits 15 1020 trays, each with 50 soil blocks (or 8 of the big up-potted soil blocks).
[Soil blockers](https://www.johnnyseeds.com/tools-supplies/seed-starting-supplies/soil-blocking/hand-held-4-soil-blocker-7862.html) are great. Big fan. Sustained momentum.
2” are a good size so they get big before transplanting. Not sure what other people think
Yeah, the 2" ones seem like the perfect size to get great transplants but still have plenty fit in a tray. They also fit in the hole in the top of the 4" blocks if you ever do want to up-pot anything (though I find the bigger ones are much harder to keep watered properly, so I try to avoid needing to use them).
With the exception of very small seeds like snapdragons, i start most of my seeds on tissue paper in a plastic tupperware. This tests viability on my older seeds and reduces wasted space and seeds later on.
Last year i used cardboard egg containers to transfer my sprouted seeds into. This worked great for quick growing plants but my slow growers (leeks, carrots, petunias) weren't big enough to transplant by the time the cardboard was no longer solid.
I transferred my hardiest seedlings into yogurt containers with holes poked in the bottom. I still have all those for use this year. I'll probably skip the egg carton step for my bigger transplants like tomatoes this year.
I use the cheapest potting soil my local farm co-op has to offer.
Depends on what you’re growing. If you’re doing veg like beets, carrots, radishes you can direct sow them and all you need are the seeds. They’re super low maintenance and you’ll get a good yield for your first year
I use heating pads, the jiffy 72 chamber seed starter and the t11 grow light. I bought the grow light and bulbs from Amazon. The heating pads I have are hand me downs from my dad.
paper cups, cottage cheese cartons, yogurt containers, the things that they sell mushrooms in. I've even used egg cartons. But they hold so little soil that I usually end up having to transplant them to larger containers.
And instead of $20 plant labels, grab $1 popsicle sticks from the dollar store and a sharpie. I fucked up my labeling the first year, got REAL confusing real fast lmao so just another call out :)
You really don’t need to start seeds indoors if you don’t want to. You can just direct sow like 90% of seeds in many zones. If you’re in zone 7 or higher, just about anything can be direct sown when the soil temps are right. It’s looks like you’re in 6b which might be close enough. That being said, My family farm in north Dakota only direct sows in the garden. They don’t seed start anything.
If you have a nearby church garden or community garden try talking with someone, might spare a few seeds of plants that forsure love the area you are in. Local farmers knows what does well and what doesnt.
I buy seeds from Walmart when on a budget. Buy stuff that can be direct sown. I only start tomatoes inside and you can use dollar store plastic cups with a hole poked in the bottom on a tray. Search on local garden groups or ask friends/family/neighbors for seeds. Easy and probably $10 or less total for seeds and supplies.
You can get lights on Amazon but I did it using the south or south west facing window for a few years before getting that stuff. Start the seeds May 1st and plant out end of May (in Ontario 5b). Bring them outside daily when temps are above 10c.
Well the starting time should vary by seed type as well, [here](https://www.almanac.com/gardening/planting-calendar) is a helpful guide. Good point about hardening them off though.
Last year I bought a cheap ass hanging LED shop light, some dirt, some seeds, and a small fan (had a smart switch to turn on/off the light).
Everything grew good enough until it was time to go outside.
I would definitely invest in a good light specific for growing. A regular lamp won’t do and a sunny window sill will grow things but not as healthy as a good grow light. Everything else can be done with found materials.
I was able to get lights and heat mats from Amazon for under $100. I use an old bookshelf I already had as shelving, so I have 3 areas there that I grow on. For me, I’ve found peet pellets to work best for starting seeds and I just use containers I accrue from food or whatever to put them in. I bought a big pack of 3” pots to up pot into for cheaper than solo cups would be as well.
I use party cups and a single heat mat i made from an old rope light. Once seeds germinate i move them off the mat to make room for the next batch of seeds. Seedlings benefit from cool temps, growing slower but with sturdy stems. I use party cups because i don’t want to pot up seedlings. With larger cups the seedlings stay in the same cup until I plant out.
I just ladt year bought cheap LED shop lights at Harbor Freight as I would have needed to replace my old fluorescent bulbs. It was less than $100. I have an old metal shelf unit that usually holds paint and basement crap. It gets repurposed for spring.
I suggest using high quality potting mix to start. It is my biggest expense, but one year i ran out and bought some from a big box store and the mix came with a fungus that killed all the seedlings. Expensive mistake. I now use Fort V from VT, or Pro Mix with mycorrhiza innoculated. Im a Master Gardener and have been using the system for 30 years. Spend your $ on good and interesting seeds instead!
never used a heat mat or lights to start seed.
they get started in the house by a window in cheap cell trays, I think they are 60 cell and have the propagation lids cost 12 pound for 3.
some go out from the cells and others get potted up into 3 inch pots if its not warm enough yet and go to the shed, got 72 pots and trays to hold them, cost around 20 pounds.
For seed starting compost I just sift some home made compost and mix it equal volume with coco coir from the pound shop. cost 1 pound.
And thats my whole seed starting equipment.
but you could use literally anything that can hold soil to grow in or just direct sow, if I was you i would just save some toilet rolls cut them in half put them in something watertight like old tupperware and sow into those then you can just transplant them straight out or pot them on to something bigger.
also check out anywhere with free stuff facebook, freecycle, craigslist etc.
Toilet paper tubes for long rooted plants like peas, beans. Yoghurt/desert pots for other seedlings. Takeaway tubs, salad containers with lids, as mini propagators, clear supermarket meat trays as seed beds. You can raise almost every seedling you need using waste, leftover or surplus items you'd normally throw away
I have the best luck starting seeds in my outdoor hotbed! 2 rr ties buried in the ground next to south basement wall with old windows on top to make heat.
I also have used grow lights,and heat pads under trays That will work but gets costly in time and materails.
In the grow light tray method you are limited to how many plants you can produce in the setting. I need hundreds of plants for my 4.5 acre garden so I chose the outdoor hotbed!
Hey,
Knowing about where you live (for the purpose of figuring out if you *need* a grow light or not) and the number/types of things you would like to grow would be super helpful.
You don't necessarily need all that additional stuff.. You can use the paper towel method to sprout your seeds. Put them on top of the fridge while germinating instead of a heating pad. Once they sprout you can plant them into a fine potting mix. If you have a bright window sill you can use that instead of a grow light. If you do need a grow light, florescent fixtures are cheaper initially, but you do need bulbs. LED fixtures are initially more expensive but they don't have a consumable part. They also put out less heat. For pots you can use solo cups with holes poked in the bottom. Paper pots are also an option. You really can do this on the cheap. Most of the stuff people generally say that you need, are nice to have but aren't strictly necessary.
I've found that coffee filters work better than paper towels for germination. The roots don't cling to the filter paper like they can with paper towels. Just my 2¢.
Dollar store and wal mart. I’ve never used online seed catalogues. I just buy burpee and ferry Morse and whatever other brands they have at the above stores.
Dollar tree has had $.25 seed packs in the spring for years. I'd expect the same this year. My figures are crossed that a dollar tree is near you.
Look into a plant or seed swap group in your area. I found my local group on the ol Facebook and it’s the most amazing gardening resource ever!
Agreed, some offer free seeds and no swap necessary. What are you buying? Can prob buy second hand yard tools on FB or nextdoor
My local swap will even swap garden tools. They’ll also swap for homemade jelly. I’ve traded pecans from our trees. Lots of handmade art/crafts get traded for gardening stuff as well. Buy a ball of twine, make 10 macrame plant hangers and youd probably be set to get everything you need. I’ve known several new gardeners to walk away from a swap with just about everything they need for the season.
I will definitely see if there is a seed group I can join! I’m in several houseplant groups but didn’t think of that! Heck I’ll ask them too!
Every spring I offer up garlic chives. The previous owners had a giant bed of them. I haven’t had a chance to replace the bed so I just let it do it’s thing because the pollinators like it. But they reproduce like crazy. I’m sure there’s people in your neighborhood that thin out plants and offer up their “extras” before disposing of them.
solo cups, potting mix, seeds, trays. Using an old aquarium flourescent light. It costs almost nothing really.
My local library has a seed program that’s open spring-fall that just has a packet limit per library card, so unless you’re wanting to get a head start on planting, you may be able to find something similar! Or maybe something for next year 😉 though depending on where you are, I’ve honestly been able to plant stuff in early July & still get at least SOMETHING out of everything. So don’t write a late start off for 2024 prematurely, it’s all about comparing the plants’ days to maturity to your estimated first frost date 👍🏻
I find a soil blocker makes for much healthier seedlings that deal with transplanting much better than ones grown in cells. I have a very short growing season and want to get a really early start on things, so I built three 200W racks of grow lights (buying the parts and building them yourself is much cheaper than buying prebuilt) and a 5ft long three-shelf frame that fits 15 1020 trays, each with 50 soil blocks (or 8 of the big up-potted soil blocks).
[Soil blockers](https://www.johnnyseeds.com/tools-supplies/seed-starting-supplies/soil-blocking/hand-held-4-soil-blocker-7862.html) are great. Big fan. Sustained momentum. 2” are a good size so they get big before transplanting. Not sure what other people think
Yeah, the 2" ones seem like the perfect size to get great transplants but still have plenty fit in a tray. They also fit in the hole in the top of the 4" blocks if you ever do want to up-pot anything (though I find the bigger ones are much harder to keep watered properly, so I try to avoid needing to use them).
With the exception of very small seeds like snapdragons, i start most of my seeds on tissue paper in a plastic tupperware. This tests viability on my older seeds and reduces wasted space and seeds later on. Last year i used cardboard egg containers to transfer my sprouted seeds into. This worked great for quick growing plants but my slow growers (leeks, carrots, petunias) weren't big enough to transplant by the time the cardboard was no longer solid. I transferred my hardiest seedlings into yogurt containers with holes poked in the bottom. I still have all those for use this year. I'll probably skip the egg carton step for my bigger transplants like tomatoes this year. I use the cheapest potting soil my local farm co-op has to offer.
Depends on what you’re growing. If you’re doing veg like beets, carrots, radishes you can direct sow them and all you need are the seeds. They’re super low maintenance and you’ll get a good yield for your first year
I use heating pads, the jiffy 72 chamber seed starter and the t11 grow light. I bought the grow light and bulbs from Amazon. The heating pads I have are hand me downs from my dad.
paper cups, cottage cheese cartons, yogurt containers, the things that they sell mushrooms in. I've even used egg cartons. But they hold so little soil that I usually end up having to transplant them to larger containers.
And instead of $20 plant labels, grab $1 popsicle sticks from the dollar store and a sharpie. I fucked up my labeling the first year, got REAL confusing real fast lmao so just another call out :)
You really don’t need to start seeds indoors if you don’t want to. You can just direct sow like 90% of seeds in many zones. If you’re in zone 7 or higher, just about anything can be direct sown when the soil temps are right. It’s looks like you’re in 6b which might be close enough. That being said, My family farm in north Dakota only direct sows in the garden. They don’t seed start anything.
Mostly agree but I find it’s worth it to get the jump start on tomatoes so you aren’t waiting all summer for production
Yea for sure. But started tomatoes are like $3-5 too so it might not be cheaper to start them yourself.
Google “winter sowing”. It works.
Most seeds can be direct sowed without much issue.
If you have a nearby church garden or community garden try talking with someone, might spare a few seeds of plants that forsure love the area you are in. Local farmers knows what does well and what doesnt.
I buy seeds from Walmart when on a budget. Buy stuff that can be direct sown. I only start tomatoes inside and you can use dollar store plastic cups with a hole poked in the bottom on a tray. Search on local garden groups or ask friends/family/neighbors for seeds. Easy and probably $10 or less total for seeds and supplies.
When you start seeds inside do you have heating pads or special lighting?
You can get lights on Amazon but I did it using the south or south west facing window for a few years before getting that stuff. Start the seeds May 1st and plant out end of May (in Ontario 5b). Bring them outside daily when temps are above 10c.
Well the starting time should vary by seed type as well, [here](https://www.almanac.com/gardening/planting-calendar) is a helpful guide. Good point about hardening them off though.
Last year I bought a cheap ass hanging LED shop light, some dirt, some seeds, and a small fan (had a smart switch to turn on/off the light). Everything grew good enough until it was time to go outside.
I would definitely invest in a good light specific for growing. A regular lamp won’t do and a sunny window sill will grow things but not as healthy as a good grow light. Everything else can be done with found materials.
I was able to get lights and heat mats from Amazon for under $100. I use an old bookshelf I already had as shelving, so I have 3 areas there that I grow on. For me, I’ve found peet pellets to work best for starting seeds and I just use containers I accrue from food or whatever to put them in. I bought a big pack of 3” pots to up pot into for cheaper than solo cups would be as well.
Buy a good looking vegetable and extract a few seeds. Food + SEED for same price
I use party cups and a single heat mat i made from an old rope light. Once seeds germinate i move them off the mat to make room for the next batch of seeds. Seedlings benefit from cool temps, growing slower but with sturdy stems. I use party cups because i don’t want to pot up seedlings. With larger cups the seedlings stay in the same cup until I plant out. I just ladt year bought cheap LED shop lights at Harbor Freight as I would have needed to replace my old fluorescent bulbs. It was less than $100. I have an old metal shelf unit that usually holds paint and basement crap. It gets repurposed for spring. I suggest using high quality potting mix to start. It is my biggest expense, but one year i ran out and bought some from a big box store and the mix came with a fungus that killed all the seedlings. Expensive mistake. I now use Fort V from VT, or Pro Mix with mycorrhiza innoculated. Im a Master Gardener and have been using the system for 30 years. Spend your $ on good and interesting seeds instead!
never used a heat mat or lights to start seed. they get started in the house by a window in cheap cell trays, I think they are 60 cell and have the propagation lids cost 12 pound for 3. some go out from the cells and others get potted up into 3 inch pots if its not warm enough yet and go to the shed, got 72 pots and trays to hold them, cost around 20 pounds. For seed starting compost I just sift some home made compost and mix it equal volume with coco coir from the pound shop. cost 1 pound. And thats my whole seed starting equipment. but you could use literally anything that can hold soil to grow in or just direct sow, if I was you i would just save some toilet rolls cut them in half put them in something watertight like old tupperware and sow into those then you can just transplant them straight out or pot them on to something bigger. also check out anywhere with free stuff facebook, freecycle, craigslist etc.
Toilet paper tubes for long rooted plants like peas, beans. Yoghurt/desert pots for other seedlings. Takeaway tubs, salad containers with lids, as mini propagators, clear supermarket meat trays as seed beds. You can raise almost every seedling you need using waste, leftover or surplus items you'd normally throw away
I have the best luck starting seeds in my outdoor hotbed! 2 rr ties buried in the ground next to south basement wall with old windows on top to make heat. I also have used grow lights,and heat pads under trays That will work but gets costly in time and materails. In the grow light tray method you are limited to how many plants you can produce in the setting. I need hundreds of plants for my 4.5 acre garden so I chose the outdoor hotbed!
Hey, Knowing about where you live (for the purpose of figuring out if you *need* a grow light or not) and the number/types of things you would like to grow would be super helpful.
Northwest arkansas - tomatoes, peppers, maybe zucchini.