The Rusted Garden Blog

Winter sowing is a modified way to direct seed outdoors when it is too cold out for seeds to germinate. Milk jugs and other containers, you fill with soil, are best used when the ground is frozen or when there is snow on the ground. An alternative method, once the ground can be worked, is a simple shoe box method. It is like using a cloche.  This method is used for cool weather crops, crops that can take a frost or a freeze. Seeds planted directly in soil, without a cover, can sit for weeks or months before germinating when soil...

Let's start with the basic question I get asked all the time which is, can basic white LED shop lights be used for starting seeds and growing garden transplants. The answer is 100% yes. I have been growing with basic fluorescent, and then LED shop lights for over 20 years. I am not recommending them for full flowering, fruiting, and complete growing indoors. They are outstanding for growing garden transplants. Though possible, as I have grown Dwarf 'Tiny Tim' Tomatoes Indoors, I don't recommend using them for large scale indoor harvest growing. You will hear people say 'lumens are for humans'...

The Rusted Garden Seed and Garden Shop I will be doing at 2022 video series called Seed Starting 101. This series will teach you how to start seeds indoors, with the goal of having inexpensive transplants for your gardens. Transplants can easily cost $3-$5 a plant when purchased at stores.  Growing your own transplants, taking in all the start up costs, will cost you about .25 cents a plant or less. The lights, seed starting supplies, and seeds will last for years, further bringing down the cost of growing your own garden transplants. You can find seeds and seed starting...