My garden started in a dirty Chinese food container

Editor’s Note: This post kicks off my “Inch by Inch series” which will track my backyard garden from concept to harvest. Follow along on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter using #inchbyinch and feel free to share your own garden journey with me in the comments, I’d love to follow along! 

Inch by inch logo

We’re far from zero waste in our home, but we like to recycle and re-use when possible. So when it came time to start our seeds, we looked toward the garbage can for our planting containers.

So far we have onions and beans.

Onions

Onions take almost 100 days to mature, so with Maine’s short growing season (even shorter this year because of the harsh winter) it’s ideal to start them inside.

We started both sets of seeds in used Chinese food takeout containers and once they sprouted, we transferred them to egg cartons. The egg cartons are great because they create perfect little pods, one for each plant.

onions 2

I’m looking forward to actually transplanting the little buggers this May when it’s finally warm enough for them to survive outside!

Do you start your seeds inside? Are you using pots or some other technique?

 

 

 

Natalie Feulner

About Natalie Feulner

Natalie Feulner is a journalist and “semi-crunchy” cloth diapering momma to a rambunctious toddler named after a county in California. She drinks too much tea and loves to climb rocks but not at the same time.