Seed Starting Greenhouse from Recycled Materials

I have many garden lusts on Pinterest.  (So many projects, so much easier to just drool over them on the internet.)  However, I try to be intentional about turning my Pinterest inspirations into reality, be it attempting DIY crafts, incredible looking recipes, or great recycling projects like this one, a mini greenhouse for starting seeds made from empty toilet paper rolls and plastic containers.  

 I loved this project because it was free to make, it used items I actually have in my house (toilet paper rolls, and plastic salad bins), and it accomplished a project I had intended to do anyway, start some tomato seedlings.

Depending on your household and how many seeds you want to start you might have all the supplies on hand immediately to start this project, or you might need a few days (or weeks – those who do not use much toilet paper) to save them up.

What you need:  you can visit the link for a complete tutorial.

1.       Empty toilet paper rolls, for each of my salad bin I needed 6 rolls, cut in half (the toilet paper rolls decompose in your garden so bonus!)

2.       Plastic bin like those from organic salad and spinach. I also made one from a rotisserie chicken and one from a cinnamon roll container. (So don't think you have to be all super organic or healthy to do this project.)

3.       Potting soil: I just bought some organic potting soil

4.       Seeds: Your choice

5.       Scooping utensil for transferring dirt and water

I ended up planting four containers.  Two full containers I planted with some heirloom tomato seeds I saved from last summer. I planted a total of 24 starter pots full of tomatoes.  Most of these sprouted so I will definitely have plants to share with friends in a few weeks (bonus!).  In the other two containers I planted 6 pots each of chili de agua, zucchini, oka, and tomatillo.  The chili pepper seeds I had saved from last year’s the garden and the zucchini, okra, and tomatillo seeds I had bought last year but didn’t plant.  So, in this entire project the only thing I actually bought was the organic potting soil, which was on sale, and for me, a worthwhile investment in my gardening adventures this year. 

For me, the direct costs for this project were less than $7. If I had bought each of my 52 plants for around $2.50 each I would have spent $130 (not including tax).  If I had bought a similar seed starting greenhouse kit like this one at Burpee.

I would have bought the 72 cell planter for the cost savings and spent $14. So, even looking at it from this angle, I still saved 50% of my costs by recycling products I would have otherwise thrown away.  Recycling options in my city are not very convenient and they only accept a pretty limited amount of items, so if not for this project I would have tossed the four bins and 26 cardboard toilet paper rolls. And isn’t that the heart of recycling, creatively accomplishing what we want to do with the resources we already have?