The Rusted Garden Blog

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...

 Ultraviolet Protection: Vertical towers are made from plastic and sit outdoors. Any vertical tower you purchase must be able to manage the ultraviolet (UV) light from the sun. The sun will degrade plastic that can't resist UV damage in 1-2 years. Plastic will become brittle and the tower will actually crack and crumble. I have had some of my GreenStalk Garden vertical towers outdoors 24/7 for over 6 seasons. They have not shown any degradation, damage, or cracking from UV rays. They stand behind their towers with a 5 year warranty. You are making an investment and want your towers to last and...

Stratification is the process of giving your seeds a period of 'cold' to prepare them for better germination. If you dont stratify seeds, they can still germinate but the rate is often much lower and they can actually take 2 or 3 times longer to germinate. A refrigerator is all you need. Most seeds don't need to be stratified. Generally speaking many perennials, that are native to areas with a freezing  winter, benefit from a chilling period. I prepared a list of 35 plants that can benefit from being stratified. These are plants I often seed start. There are two...