This weeks frugal tip is courtesy of my forced “green thumbing” thanks to FPIES.
I have to garden this year, which means I need to get some seeds started NOW. Only, most seed starter kits use either plastic or “biodegradable” material that I’m not sure is safe for Zac.
One day, as I went about my chores, I was mulling over who I would need to contact to find out which seed starters were safe for my son, and suddenly stopped short as I gathered up the many, many, MANY empty water bottles in our house for recycling.
Water, as I’ve explained, is tricky for Zac due to corn contamination. One of the reasons bottled water can be corntaminated is from the plastic used in the bottling. This is why we use the brand of water we use: it’s corn-free.
And here I am, holding twenty gazillion empty water bottles made of SAFE plastic for Zac.
Hel-lo!
I have about 400 million of these in my spare bathroom. Seriously. It’s scary.
So I started storing these water bottles in our spare, never-ever-used-by-anyone, bathroom. They now literally fill the shower almost to the shower head! It’s insane! (Yes, the ones I don’t use will be recycled.)
Then it occurred to me…those seed starter thingies aren’t cheap. If you like to garden and need to start seeds, you could be $100 in the hole before you even start just with seed starters.
BUT, if you drink bottled water…well, this tip could help you quite a bit!
So here it is: easy, sort-of-free seed starters! (Free, if you consider you already bought them and were going to toss the bottle away, you know.)
I took a utility knife and cut off the bottom of the bottle. I made mine fairly deep, just to be on the safe side. Probably about 4+ inches deep.
Please note that any sized water bottle will work for this. In fact, smaller bottles may even be easier and better to use. One bottle=one plant. But this is what I have, so I’m using the gallon sized bottles. I imagine I can start up to 4 seeds in each of them.
Then I used a drill to drill some drainage holes in the bottom. If you don’t have a drill, don’t worry! Take a nail, hold it over an open flame (a candle works great for this) and once it is hot it will slide right in to the bottle and make a nice little drainage hole for you. (Um, hold it with a pot holder or something, though, okay? Don’t burn yourself in the pursuit of gardening!)
Then I simply filled them with dirt, and voila! Seed starters, ready to go!
Just plant the seeds, water them, and you are done. Gardening has commenced!
Simple. Free. And completely fitting with the Frugal Friday mantra: Use it up, wear it out, MAKE IT DO, or do without.
Hope this helps!
What’s your best cheap and easy seed starter solution? Well, aside from directly sowing into the ground!
