Seed Starters, Part 2

Last month, I tested out 4 simple seed starters for my edible garden. I wanted to see for myself if all those videos showing crafty reuses of materials around your home were legit. 

Today, I bring you my findings:

Option 1: the reused glass jar with marbles in the bottom. I'll give this a C. I have a couple thin sad little sprouts starting to show, but they took longer to sprout than other options and just don't look as healthy. When I checked the soil after a few days, it was still very wet, despite having more room for drainage. I think it's just that glass can't "breathe". 

Option 2: the plastic container with vented lid. Rating: A! I have multiple sprouts after about 1 week. They are a healthy green and now have grown to the point I need to open the lid of the container. 

Option 3: the plastic tub with drainage holes. Rating: A-. This one also produced several healthy looking sprouts. There are a few less than with the lidded container and I did have to water this one slightly more, without the greenhouse effect of a lid.

Option 4: the folded TP roll. Rating: F. This one produced 0 sprouts. Honestly, this one was just hard to keep the soil moist. The cardboard kept drying out, and leaking out the folded base. It would require watering a couple times a day just for basic moisture, compared to 2-3 days with the plastic containers. 

In all, this was a fun experiment. I will be able to use the tomato plants resulting from the plastic tubs, and will likely use this method again in the future. 

Pro tip, though: I'm not a professor gardener. :-) I highly recommend checking out gardening classes from your local gardening organization or community college. I recently attended a webinar from @bellevuedemonstrationgarden for a $5 recommended donation that shared fantastic tips on temperature, soil conditions, when to transplant, disease prevention, and more. Support your local professionals while optimizing your fruit and veggie production!

Time to Start Your Edible Garden!

It may seem crazy to be thinking about a spring or summer garden in the midst of Snowmageddon 2021, but now is the perfect time to start your plants indoors.

There are so many videos and posts out there about creative ways to reuse household items as seed starters, that I thought I'd try a few out for you! Check back in a few weeks and I'll share which were the most successful.

Option 1: the salsa jar I held back from recycling.You'll want to put some rocks or vase marbles in the bottom for drainage.

Option 2: the plastic vented produce container. This one held tomatoes, but you'll see this same container used for berries too. The idea behind these is that you can close the lid, creating a greenhouse effect.

Option 3: Any old plastic tub. We eat a ton of dairy, from sour cream to yogurt to cream cheese, so plastic tubs are a-plenty. I drilled some small holes for drainage, or you could use rocks, like we did with the glass jar.

Option 4: a TP or paper towel tube. Cut down to a few inches tall. Cut 4 slits around the bottom, so you can fold into a flat base, like a box. The idea here is that the cardboard is biodegradable, and when you're ready to plant outside, you can plant the tube and all.

Once you've gathered your containers, fill with potting soil and seeds. My seeds are coming in the form of a halved organic cherry tomato. No need to clean off the tomato - it will degrade in the soil. Push the tomatoes or seeds into the soil and cover with about 1" more of soil.

Place your starter pots in a sunny window and water as needed to keep the soil moist.

Happy planting, folks! What edible plants will you be growing this year?

Ways to Honor the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day #QuarantineStyle

It was the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day today. This year feels like a weird year to be celebrating anything. We can't go out for the usual tree plantings, litter cleanup events, or other group events. However, let's not let the unusual year prevent us from a moment of reflection.

With COVID-19, we are seeing some unplanned, positive side effects. With stay at home orders and business shutdowns, there are no more commuter cars on the road and reduced manufacturing. You can see dozens of before-and-after pictures like the following, from around the world (Asia, Italy, California), showing visible reduction in air pollution.

An atmospheric map of China:

And an on-the-earth view of India: 

While the shutdown efforts may feel extreme and won't be entirely replicable when things return to "normal", let's figure out what we can bring forward. And in the meantime, it seems harder to maintain some of our good habits: restaurant delivery/takeaway with disposables have replaced ceramics and cutlery, Starbucks started refusing reusable mugs even before stay-at-home orders, and online shopping replaces reusable shopping bags with shipping packaging. Let's figure out where we can contribute now.

Here are several ways to honor the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day.

What You Can Do Now: 

• Many of us have moved the majority of our shopping online. When shopping on Amazon, choose "Frustration-Free" packaging if possible. If it's an option, you should see it as a filter on the left-hand side, as you are refining your search. Or search for Frustration-Free up front. 

• If shopping on Amazon, message cs-reply@amazon.com to request minimal plastic packaging inside your orders. This will help those non-frustration-free orders to do things like replace the plastic air-filled pillows with crumpled paper. 

• Shop Amazon Smile (smile.amazon.com), now available on the mobile app too by navigating to Menu > Settings > Amazon Smile. This allows you to designate a charity of choice, and Amazon will make a small donation on eligible purchases. There are many available charities/non-profits, included many with a sustainability mission. 

• When online shopping, you can still do second-hand. Consider options like thredup.com, swap.com, or Poshmark.

• Reuse your disposables. Just because they are marketed as disposable doesn't mean you can only use them once. The plastic cutlery I've been receiving with my takeout has survived multiple rounds through the dishwasher. A single reuse of a disposable means you're reducing your waste by 50%. 

• Are you making fabric face masks to wear when grocery shopping? Make your masks out of worn textiles, for example, a retired bed sheet. 

(old sheet + seam ripper = fabric and elastic for masks)

• Plant a tree or get a houseplant. You can get plants at stores that are otherwise essential, for example grocery stores and hardware stores. Take advantage of spring and get some green in your home.

(new tree brings joy and breathes carbon dioxide)

• Start a food garden. Whether getting a starter from the garden section of a hardware store, or regrowing food from your produce scraps, growing food has the general benefits of growing plants, and also makes you more food self-sufficient.  

• Mend clothing. You may have some extra time at home now to catch up on that mending pile. And if you are a beginner, this is the perfect time to practice with worrying so much about the end result. 

• Gather donations. Just because you can't drop off your donations at a thrift store, doesn't mean you can't gather them in the meantime. For some items like clothing, online sales are a way to deal with donations if you want to move them before physical stores reopen. 

• Shop produce online. Subscription clubs like Imperfect Produce allow you to get fresh fruits and veggies while avoiding the store crowds. They will now even take back the box they deliver food in. 

• Switch to a bidet. No better time to consider alternatives than when there's a shortage of toilet paper!

• Use food scraps to get creative about cooking. Keep small amounts that don't seem like a small serving to combine into an interesting salad or buddha bowl at the end of the week. Keep the trimmings from your veggies to make homemade veggie broth. 

• Eat your leftovers! If you want to mix things up, just freeze those leftovers, and you'll soon have a stockpile. 

• Switch to reusable feminine products. With a shortage of those necessary products at stores, no time like now to invest in washable pads, period panties, or a menstrual cup. 

• Continue to use online marketplaces where safe and available. Some groups like Buy Nothing are reducing posting to essentials only. Find the groups that allow you to buy and sell, read their safety guidelines, and use "porch pick up" for free items.

• Save your delivery packaging for reuse. Larger boxes are great for moving or storage. Smaller boxes and envelopes for are good for shipping and by small businesses. I put out a weekly stash on the curb and have it claimed each week. 

(boxes with free sign on curb disappear within an hour)

• Repair something around your home. Now is a perfect time to learn a new skill and prevent the need to shop for new things.

• Once you've gathered your donations, choose a t-shirt that isn't ideal for donating, and turn it into face cloths/makeup wipes. Simply cut into squares, and you have the softest reusable tissue.

• Stream more, buy less. Replace impulse buying movies or magazine from the Target end-caps with some of the amazing free content that is being provided by cultural institutions. From museums to Nasa archives, to at-home musical concerts, there is tons of content to enjoy.

• Pick a favorite snack food and perfect an at home recipe. Love snack applesauce or granola?Identify containers to portion and replace single use snack packs. It will be easier to develop a new routine now than when you are in the hustle of your daily commute. 

• Use what you have for household essentials or in your pantry. Were you saving staples like condensed soups or cans of beans for a quick dinner? While they may have a long shelf life, it's amazing how often I come across the one that got lost in the back and expired 2 years ago. Rotate your essentials and use them up. 

• Use what you have for activities or gifts you have yet to get to. Receive a book for Christmas and have yet to crack it open? Get bath and body supplies for your birthday two years ago and haven't used them up yet? While you can't do certain activities that are closed, treat yourself to the things you can do and were planning to "get to someday". 

• Try a solid bar shampoo or conditioner. It's an ideal time to experiment with new products. Dry products avoid the plastic bottle packaging, and save shipping fuel by concentrating the size and weight of the product. 

What You Can Do When We Return to "Normal":

• Continue to work from home. Even 1 day per week is a 20% reduction in commuting.

• Switch to a rideshare or public transit for the days you go to the office. 

• Keep track of the changes above that were easy for you, and maintain them as we move forward. 

Cheers to you for whatever you're able to contribute amidst this crazy time, and Happy Earth Day. 

Survival Skills aka Growing Your Own Food

There's nothing like a global pandemic zombie apocalypse, and the resulting shortage of certain staples at the grocery store, to encourage you to become more self-sufficient and live off of what you have.

It's been a weird year for gardening. We've had a cool early spring, and where normally I'd have tomatoes transplanted already, this is the first week that I'm starting to think about putting plants outside.

So between feeling stuck inside with quarantine, and not feeling like I can plant outside, my mind has gone to "What can I grow from scraps in my kitchen window?" And this year, I'm trying out lettuce and cabbage for the first time.

Lettuce and cabbage are supposed to be super easy - you simply put the leftover core into a shallow bowl of water, and they'll grow roots and more leaves. I gave it a try with a cabbage (from St. Patty's Day corned beef!) and two heads of romaine. There are already very promising signs after about 2 weeks.

Here you can see about 3" of new leaf growth from about 6 new leaves on the romaine. 

Here you can see a few new leaves budding on the top of the cabbage... 

... as well as several healthy roots. 

Now that they have new growth (and it's finally getting a bit warmer outside), it's time to transfer them to soil. Using an enriched soil or compost, bury the roots and leave the leaves exposed. 

I chose to plant in ceramic planters, only because it's been too cold to prep my garden bed. Some guides have said that I should use the amount lettuce of I've grown at this point and call it quits. Others say that I can keep trimming to soil level and get knew regrowth. I'm looking forward to seeing how many rounds I can go. 

End goal? If I only get 1 round of small leaves regrowth, I'll still save 25% on my produce purchasing. Hopefully, I can go multiple rounds, reducing my shopping by 50% or more.

SIY (Start It Yourself) Succulents

I saw a short video the other day on "clever plant hacks", and today am testing one of them for myself.

The idea is that you can propagate many new succulent plants from:

• the leaves of an existing plant 
• a plastic bottle

Step 1: pull several of the leaves off a succulent.

Step 2: take a plastic bottle (I'm using an orange juice jug) and cut several small holes up and down the sides of it, stopping at least 2" from the bottom. 

Step 3: pour 2" water in the bottom and screw the lid back on.

Step 4: insert the cut side of a succulent leaf into each of the holes.

Put into your window, and hopefully in a few weeks, you'll have roots on each leaf, resulting in about a dozen new little succulents!

I'll post again in a few weeks - if succussful, I will have:

• saved $4 per plant
• saved a small plastic pot per plant
• reused a plastic jug

Happy propagating!