starting my first garden

Because we are buying a house, we are trying to live as frugally as possible.  So, my husband said I could only spend $20 on my garden supplies.  Yikes!  So I have had to be a bit creative in coming up with my supplies.  Here is what I have done so far.

I bought and planted my seeds the last week of April.  Seems a bit late coming from Missouri, but here in the Northeast we can still get below freezing well into May.  I spent my $20 on organic seed starting mix, organic soil and organic tomato, eggplant, zucchini, pumpkin, chives, and cilantro seeds.  I really wanted to buy several other types of seed, but since I am on a tight budget I will just have to hold off until next year!

I started the seeds in cardboard boxes.  It will still be about 6 weeks before we move to the new place, and my sprouts will certainly outgrown their cardboard boxes.  So I needed something that I could put the the plants in that I could just pop right into the garden without having to disturbing them again.  So, I made some pots out of newspaper and replanted each sprout as it got bigger.  The newspaper is perfect.  It is free and biodegradable.  Double bonus!

 

I honestly wasn't sure it was going to work, but they are really growing.  I hope I can keep them going long enough to get them planted in the garden.