Seed starting tip - jiffy pots

These little "jiffy pots" are a neat trick for starting seeds. You simply soak the round disc in a glass of water for a few hours or overnight. Then you loosen the soil at the top and sides by squeezing the soaked pot. Next plant your seeds inside the pot. We usually put two seeds in each pot and if both seeds germinate we will thin out the weaker of the two seedlings. What makes them especially nifty is that you can plant these little dirt pots directly in the soil without disturbing your new plant during transplanting.

When we start the pot we put them in a little "greenhouse" until they germinate. Our greenhouse is either a deli container or a salad container from a fast food restaurant. Angelica is holding a couple of our little greenhouses which we started the other night. I like them because they stack so nicely. The greenhouse will prevent us from eagerly over watering the seeds (and drowning the seeds) or from under watering the seeds (and then they perish from drought). Once the seedlings sprout, we will have to open the lid of the greenhouse and cautiously water when dry.