Seed Starting: Cardboard Box

As mentioned in the last post, the seed starting trays you buy at the garden center are often very small and require one or two transplants as the plants get bigger before the final transplant into the garden. I think if you start with a bigger container in the first place, the re-plantings can be avoided later on.

I haven't tried this previously, but plan on doing so in the spring.

1. Get a corrugated cardboard box that was used to hold bottles which has card board dividers in it used to separate the bottles. A case of bottled beer is a good example of the type of box I am referring to.

2. Drink the beer. Gardening is hard work and this is one of those thankless tasks you'll need to suffer in order to ensure a successful crop.

3. Cut the box to the height of the dividers. This should be about 3 - 4 inches high. If the dividers themselves are very high, you may need to trim them to about 4 inches.

4. With a screw driver, poke three holes in the bottom of the box under each of the squares of the divider.

5. You should now have about a 4 inch deep cardboard tray with either 12 or 24 compartments made from the divider. Fill the tray with potting soil and plant seeds in each of the compartments.

6. Place the tray on a cookie sheet or similar and use as you would a normal seed starting tray.

The compartments of the box are probably 4 or more times the size of the seed starting trays from the nursery center. It also has the advantage that you can simply tear away the cardboard when it is time to transplant in the garden rather than having to knock the plants out of little pots. The cardboard will also bio degrade if it is not wax coated and can also be used in the garden as mulch after the seedlings are removed.