For the last several years I have begged my husband for a greenhouse. “I can grow vegetables year round,” I said. “I can seed our plants for the garden. I can over-winter my hanging baskets. I can grow vegetables year round.” As we reviewed our profit and loss for the previous year we discovered one of our major expenses was the purchase of seedlings. (Although I confess, I am a seed addict and spent a significant amount on seeds, seeds and more seeds.)
There are some plants that just grow better when you seed them directly into the soil. Due to root structure and formations, they just don’t transplant well. For instance, corn has a fairly long tap root and grows better when directly seeded. Some vegetables don’t care how they are planted and will grow from seed or seedling – squash, cucumber, watermelon and cantaloupe for example. Still others are very persnickety and grow best when babied and seeded in a smaller controlled environment such as seeding beds or plugs. Then after true leaf formation are transplanted into trays or pots to allow them to become established before being transplanted into the garden. These are usually smaller seeded plants like tomato, kale and lettuce. We try to plant as much as possible directly in the dirt. The less trauma to the plants, the less the root systems are disturbed, the more quickly the plant grows and starts to produce. Seeds of course are cheaper than seedlings, that is only logical. A six pack of seedling on average is about $3.59. The average pack of seeds cost $1-$3 a pack and contains between 20 and 100 seeds. Just do the math. So whenever possible, it is more economical to a) plant directly in the soil, or b) seed your own plants for transplant.
A friend of ours doing extensive renovations on his mother’s home gave Troy a bunch of sliding glass doors from the sun room. So, for Valentine’s Day (all large garden projects at our house are justified as a gift for a holiday), I got my greenhouse.
My brilliant husband took the sliding glass doors and built me a lovely greenhouse. Sliding glass doors with screens on 3 sides with a solid wall in the back – painted black to hold the heat from the sun in cold weather. My daughter, Hannah, a true sustainability advocate, was thrilled with the recycling of the sliding glass doors. Troy mounted wire shelves with chain supports and Viola! I had a green house. Of course my children – always comedians – informed me since the structure was only 5’ X 6’ in size it wasn’t big enough to be considered a house and therefore they dubbed it – the Green Hut. Of course it stuck.
Our summer plantings were the first crop I seeded in the Hut. I loved it! I got so much pleasure from planting those seeds, watering every day and eventually planting them in the garden. I experimented with various types of seeding – in pans, plugs and directly into trays. I tried several different soil mediums and combinations. I planted multiple varieties of vegetables in effort to see which grew best in our red dirt. I seeded flowers and vegetables and herbs until finally my husband said, “ STOP! Honey, where do you think we are going to plant all these seedlings? We only have so much ground prepped to plant.” We shifted and planted, I gifted and traded, until finally all our seedlings had a home. We did end up with quite a few more plants in the ground this year, but still at considerably less cost by self-seeding. The Hut was a tremendous success.
For those of you with the resources, I highly recommend a green house, or Hut, for use in seeding. While the initial outlay was a good bit, even with the recycled doors, the savings were substantial. The only problem we have now is controlling my compulsion to plant more and more seeds! Maybe I can get my husband to till up more ground…..next year.