Today, we talk about starting your garden plants from seed. We will take this from a beginners perspective and sprinkle in "Innovations" for those of you who are old hands at it. We will also cover our usual Monday Segments: Tales From the Prepper Pantry, Weekly Shopping Report from Joe, Frugality Tip, Operation Independence.
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Tales from the Prepper Pantry
Weekly Shopping Report
Frugality Tip from Red Fyer Media (Rebecca)
For your DIY Construction projects
Get free lumber, hardware, plumbing PEX, Electrical supplies & even tools!
Building contractors, especially smaller ones who build 1-5 houses at a time, have to pay clean up crews to haul off the excess lumber & they rent the dumpsters & sometimes have to pay extra by weight & to be emptied.
If you see a house is being built, stop by and talk to the contractor about dumpster diving or collecting left overs. They will usually say ok, as long as you promise to go by after the crew is done for the day and they also want you to guarantee you are not going to sue them if you hurt yourself.
Every contractor I have talked to is THANKFUL that I am taking stuff away and they don't have to pay to haul off.
Here''s a short list of what I have gotten for free that way:
1/2 pex - appx 150 ft because crews don't like to mess with the last 20-30 ft of the roll stuck in the plastic.
3 strand wire (at least 150' from 4 different houses. They are short runs, maybe 2' - 7', but most DIY homestead projects use a lot of short runs and a few long ones. Super heavy duty wire like for 220 - enough for any DIY project.
Lumber! 2x4s, 2x6, 2x8, trim pieces for both indoor and outdoor - most NEW lumber that was extra at the end of a house build. Right now I have 20 20' 1x4 cedar boards that were left overs for ONE house.
Other items:
Insulation, pipe insulation.
Door hardware, cabinet hardware, plumbing hardware, electrical boxes (like on power poles) All NEW!
Operation Independence
Main topic of the Show: Starting Seeds for Beginners
First: Why try?
Next: What can go wrong
About failure:
<Story: extra tomatoes and holey hoses>
Things to cover
Seeds: Heirloom, vs hybrid and its all okay
What to grow via seedlings: Tomatoes, peppers, kale, swiss chard, broccoli, lettuce, loofahs
1) Light, light, light. Generally a window isn't going to have strong enough light. By far, this is most common pitfall.
Lighting - and what to do if you dont have any
2) Soil temperature. Too low, and you'll have bad germination rates and weak seedlings.
Heating source - and what to do if you dont have any
Seedling mats
$13
3) Consistent moisture, not overwatering. Dampening off and failure to thrive despite good lighting is generally due to overwatering.
Watertable method - redneck style
Plant tray:
Pots
Trays
4) Potting mix. Find one you get good results with and stick to it. You want good moisture holding capacity but also a light enough texture that pricking out and potting up is easy.
Potting Mix
Soil mix
Some first year advice: choose 1 or 2 things and just try them out. And dont be sad if you end up buying seedlings - try again next year. It will work at some point.
Borrow from a friend
Visit nurseries for their extras - we ended up with 100 tray carrier things that way.
Make it a great week!
GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
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