Growing with baby cubes

As you know we are a DIY family.  We try a little of this and that here and there to save some money.  Sometimes it turns out well, other times not so great, but there is always a great reward in accomplishing things yourself, start to finish.  There is also great wisdom in hiring someone with experience to have it done professionally.  The trick is knowing when to draw the line.


We've been meaning to start a garden in our backyard for quite some time, which I think is quite an achievable DIY kind of thing.  Buy or grow some plants and stick em in the ground and water.  I was looking to grow some plants from seed this year, but didn't want to spend the money on a mini greenhouse set up....so I had to think up another solution.  So I decided to try using baby cubes as mini greenhouses.   If you are a -make your own baby food- kind of gal...then you most likely know what baby cubes are. Here is an idea about what to do with all those baby cubes once your babe is done with puree's.

Supplies:

Baby cubes

Seeds

Potting mix soil

Drill with bit

Steps 

1. Drill holes into the bottom of the  baby cubes.  I did about 2-3 per cube.I also drilled holes in the bottom, to make way for the water to pass through.

2. Add soil to the holy containers.  I used a potting mix soil.  It said to pre-moisten the soil.  I didn't follow the instructions on the first round...don't do what I did...follow the instructions, they are there for a reason!  When I tried to water the soil that wasn't pre-moistened, the water just seemed to bead on the top.  Watering went much better on the second round when I pre-moistened the soil...as per the instructions!

3. Add your seed and more soil.  I added more than one seed in each, thinking that some of them wouldn't sprout.  Well, actually they all sprouted, resulting in 3-4 plants per cube. Oops...oh well, more plants!

4. Water them a bit and close the cover.  Voilà... Mini greenhouse! I put them on a T.V tray right against the window, in direct sunlight.  Make sure to keep them moist, so they don't dry out on you.  It's also a good idea to open them up and air them out every now and then ( to prevent them from molding).

You can see them here all doing fairly well.

I planted tomatoes, kale, green peppers and hot peppers.  The only ones that I had no success with were the green peppers.

I'm still waiting for some time to get a little garden planted.  I have a few other vegetables I want to try this year, and with all the food these kiddos are consuming lately, this garden is going to come in really handy this summer!  A friend suggested I try square foot gardening, so I'm considering that as an option for the set up.

I'd love to hear if you have any gardening suggestions for the planting stage!