Germination supplies

Besides ordering seeds now is the time to get all of your supplies together and organized.

The first step in starting a garden is germination - I use the filter (or papertowel) method. For this method you need coffee filters (or papertowels, which I have not priced). The best buy I can find is the dollar store - most have 50 filters for $1.00. This makes it a cost of 2 cents for each set of seeds you germinate. Fairly cost effective.

The next thing you will need is a reclosable plastic baggie for each filter. The recommended size is 3x4 for the filter. The best price I could find for that exact bag is $6.75 for 1000 bags (should last you several years, unless you have a very large garden club). Also these are reusable, so after use you can wash out and use again next year. If you only used each bag once, the cost per attempt at germination is .68 cents.

I found the bags at http://www.cometsupply.com/ 

The total for each attempted germination would be 2.68 cents. Divide that by the number of seeds you attempt to germinate and the cost is minimal.

You can also purchase dry erase markers at the dollar store for 4 fine tip for $1.00. I use these to label the bags and other things. Hard to calculate the cost of these due to multiple uses for these markers.

I will go into this germination method in my next blog...