Planting Hacks - Down on The Farm

For many years, I have made annual trips to the store to purchase peat moss cups, potting soil, as well as seeds to start our garden vegetables for the season. The past couple of years, I have been a little more frugal and decided that I should share these ideas to help someone else. Recycling can save a family plenty of money and we all know that, so this is a time saver and a money saver. Depending on what the cups cost at your house and whether you use the items that I am going to tell you about will depend on if this saves your family money or not.

Normally, a large part of our supplies each year are these small brown earthy type cups that are called peat moss cups. You are able to purchase them, add potting soil, and then put your seeds into them, and even add the cup to the dirt as you plant in the garden as they are decomposable. 

However, I am truly not a fan of these as I think that they are such a waste of money each year. I would rather have something reusable or use something that I already am putting to waste. I improvised last year and this year and now will share the hack with you. I have been using empty K Cups that are coffee are in. Yes, the little plastic cups that you place in your Keurig or other brand individual coffee maker. I simply clean them out and give them a quick rinse and let them dry. Then I add my potting soil and my seeds. They work great!  They are the perfect size and even have a small drain hole in them. 

   Another hack that I want to share today is that you can also start your seeds in egg cartons. Add soil or potting mix to each individual egg spot and place a seed or two in each one and you instantly have a small indoor spot for these seeds to begin to grow.  I have used egg cartons for many things over the years, but I had never thought of them as a garden spot until this year. Some of even cardboard, which is possible to plant with the plant in it and allow the cardboard just to rot away in the ground. I usually remove my plants, but my daughter has planted some of hers and the plants are fine. Of course, I recommend cutting them apart if you intend to do that. 

My daughter has also used some plastic trays that we decent size to plant in this year and some paper cups. Oh, another hack those small cups like you would have for the bathroom that are paper, those work amazingly too. Use your imagination and you will find that there are many options available in place of those cups that you must purchase each year. Recycle, reuse, and reduce the waste in our landfills! 

HAPPY FARMING