Tips for seed buying and garden prep.
Learning how to start your own garden, even if it’s just one pot in your apartment, is a life skill that will help your bottom line. I get a lot of questions about seeds and garden prep…
What is the best time to buy seeds?
What seeds should I buy?
How can I harvest my own seeds?
Below are my tips for seed buying and garden prep – for answers to these questions and more.
When To Buy Seeds
The fall is the best time to buy seeds because this is harvest season, when seeds become available.
Start prepping for next year now. If you go looking for seeds in the spring, they will be all sold out. Right now is the time to purchase. The harvest season is when the farmers have their seeds ready to go, because they just harvested them.
Make sure you buy more than you need…it is always best to be prepared because seeds can become non-viable after too much time.
What To Plant
If you’re going to invest in seeds, invest in something that will last you longer: crops with sustainability. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, and squashes are the best crops to plant when considering foods that will last through the winter.
If stored in a cool, dry place, these crops can last all fall and winter.
What Seeds To Buy
I buy heirloom seeds because Medical Medium® has said that when you buy heirloom seeds. When you eat heirloom produce, you can overcome nutritional deficiencies through your seeds.
Look for Bug Out Seed Bag “Complete Heirloom Survival Garden.” True Leaf Market is also one of my favorite heirloom seed companies.
When purchasing seeds, you want to consider your needs beyond satiating your appetite.
Medicinal seeds are always helpful to have on hand. While food is critical, it’s also beneficial to think about growing your own medicine, and allows us the freedom to use and learn about the qualities of herbs and wild foods as home remedies
Collecting Your Own Seeds
A common question I get asked is: How do I collect seeds from the food I have purchased or grown?
This is a simple process that can certainly save you money.
If you have grown or bought food that you love and want to grow the same variety yourself, the easiest thing to do is harvest the seeds. Simply remove some of the seeds, wash them thoroughly, and lay them flat to dry. Once they are fully dried, save them in an airtight container in a cool, dry climate and then they are ready to plant.
If your potatoes start to sprout, don’t throw them away. They become seeds. One potato seed will grow about 30-50 potatoes. If you don’t have a garden or its too overwhelming to start in a garden, start to grow potatoes in pots and potato sacks; you don’t need a lot of space. Potatoes are one of the easiest things to grow. Potato and sweet potato seeds are not like normal small seeds that you purchase…they are the root itself, ready to sprout or already sprouting.
Growing Seedlings For Planting
To grow seedlings for planting, gather the seeds you want and purchase some small compostable planters (I like Eco Pots). Fill each little pod with soil and put the seed in the soil, water as needed. When the seeds begin to sprout, you can tear the pods apart and plant the whole thing in the ground. The cardboard is compostable, so you don’t need to do any messy transplanting.
Products
Obviously, winter can pose challenges as a growing season. However, gardening has come a long way and can now grow indoors all year round. To do this, my favorite tool is the Tower Garden. With this, food can grow beautifully indoors during the winter.
For fertilizer, I recommend compost. We compost ourselves in a sub pod in our backyard. However, I recognize that not everybody has the ability or space to run their own composter. Not to worry, you can buy fertilizer or compost as well. The brand I recommend is Dr. Earth or Coast of Maine..
For more gardening tools and products, head to the Gardening & Sprouting section of my Amazon Store. This page is a wealth of information!
Bottom Line
The key to good produce is the seed and the soil! Gardening does not have to be complicated, but to get a good crop, you must start with a good environment. The soil is as important as the seed. Don’t cheat yourself; start with the highest quality seeds and soil.
Most of all, have fun with it. Let gardening be your therapy – it certainly has become one of mine! Growing a garden improves your immune system, it helps you connect with your food (the food you grow modifies itself to your body’s health needs) and putting your hands in the soil grounds you to our Earthly Mother.
To your health & happiness,
Muneeza
