Seed Raiser

For many years I used to purchase all my vegetable seedlings from the nursery.  Like a kid in a candy store, I would load up and then push the fully loaded trolley to the cash register.  Although this was a great way to grow fresh nutritious food at a good price, I still found the initial cost a little high. One year, I was given a walk-in greenhouse and thought this would be just big enough to raise all the seeds I needed.  After I put it all together, my best mate Roy thought he would make some adjustments of his own.

So after I recovered from Roy's devastating effects, I decided to get myself a cheap little seed raising kit, something to get by for the season.

It was no larger than a dinner plate and had a plastic lit with controllable air vents to manage the internal temperature.  To my absolute surprise, it was able to grow more than enough to fill my vegetable beds and to this date, I've not needed anything bigger.

Here it is with the seeds I planted today.

I've planted tomatoes (Amish and San Marzano), eggplant, pumpkin and sweet peppers.  The rest of what I'm planning to plant at the farm will be direct sow.

If you've every thought of raising your own vegetables form seed, I highly recommend trying it.  It's much cheaper, you can share seeds amongst friends, and of course there's the personal satisfaction of raising the vegetables yourself from scratch.