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2/6/10 10:59 P

Thanks Sharjopaul! I had heard that, about the certain plants don't like their roots disturbed (tomatoes also) and to use the bleach solution and about the covers, from the You Tube articles I referenced and linked to in my Jan 14 blog.

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2/6/10 9:21 P

The pressed cardboard egg cartons can be cut apart and planted directly into the garden. Is is especially good with plants that do not like their roots disturbed like melons, pumpkins and gourds. The styrofoam ones don't have drainage so you would have to remove the seedlings from them to plant. I don't know of any other reason not to use them, other than styrofoam is environmentally bad compare to the cardboard ones, maybe someone else does.

When you reuse plastic plant containers, be sure to sterilize them in a mild bleach solution just in case the previous plants had any kind of disease.

Covering your pots with the plastic dome or plastic bags helps to keep the soil evenly moist so the seeds will be more likely to germinate

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2/6/10 8:00 P

Thanks for all the welcomes!

ZoeMom do you mean styrofoam egg cartons won't work, but the pressed paper egg cartons will work? Do you leave the lid shut until they sprout, or cover with saran wrap, or how do you do it in egg cartons?

I saved a bunch of nursery 6-pack plastic pieces from last summer, as well as yogurt cups etc. Some people on You Tube use strawberry and blueberry cartons because they already have holes in them (I thought that was ingenious!) I also saved mushroom containers. They are styrofoam so tell me if it's the styrofoam please . . .

I'm going to use the cartons I saved, plus homemade seedling pots made out of newspaper (see You Tube), you can only use the black and white newsprint not colored newsprint. I also have some seed starting kits, the $6 kind with the plastic dome lids, that I bought last year during summer clearance for $2. So between what I have and have saved, plus the extras I can make out of newspaper, I think I'm good!

If anyone like me is new to seed starting, I have a bunch of links in my Jan 14 blog.

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2/6/10 12:23 P

FEARLESSLIFE
I have saved my Egg-cartons and will use those for my seeds. If you have Styrofoam it will not work. The ones I have will biodegrade and cost me nothing extra.

Just Another idea.

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2/6/10 10:53 A

Welcome to the team

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2/6/10 9:14 A

Welcome to the team. It is a great team so jump right in and make yourself at home.

I am Sunny and I am glad you made a decision to make your spark journey with us.

Hugs, Sunny

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2/6/10 7:45 A

Welcome to the team! I will be putting my tomato and pepper seeds in tonight!

Becky

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2/6/10 4:12 A

Well I saw this team on someone else's page and just have to say . . . it perfectly fits my life and some of my 2010 goals. I'm going to be starting seeds in a few weeks, most of them March 13 but some a few weeks earlier, I live in an apt so this will be container gardening. I've always wanted and never had a windowsill herb garden, also going to start that (could start those now!), and this year I thought I'd TRY container gardening some peppers and tomatoes. Start small . . . I also have indoor plants.

But my main thing is I love flowers, go pretty nuts with them. I'm going to try a seedblocker for the first time, I will be buying the smallest size, do any of you use those?, and I saved last week's newspaper to make potting cups with (see You Tube).

Carol

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