what about using big clear rubber-maid tubs and designating quadrants of the soil with string or little markers? then stretch some clear plastic with holes in it over the top. that way its just like one huge container- youll just have to keep better track of everything!

Here is a thread on the exact same discussion!!

Enjoy!!

Here is a link that might be useful: Containers

Have you tried asking friends and neighbors to save them for you? Coworkers? Tried raiding recycling bins the night before garbage collection?

I use milk jugs though my husband and I don't drink much milk. I have gotten them from friends and neighbors. I've also had a friend at work save her gallon water jugs for me. She uses bottled water for drinking and cooking.

Karen

Shmooey, that's not a bad idea! I could actually use an oversized rubbermaid tub with a clear cover and put individual paper cups inside too. That would make transplant easier without slowing down the plant's start with 'hunk of seedlings' like I usually do. I like that idea.... Thanks

Hi Fran... :-) Yes I remember the small containers you use, and that the gallon jugs are more problematic for you. I actually don't end up with even the small containers in my house. We buy very little in packages, including margarine, cottage cheese, etc. I can buy paper cups easy enough. Or those plastic drinking cups, is what I mean. So the idea of using the cups with the larger 'crates' or rubbermaid containers appeals to me.

No, the whole business of asking everyone for containers just doesn't work for me. Everyone seems to see it as an imposition I guess and I don't like to put people out. Oh, they don't say so, but you can tell.

Karen, I didn't think of raiding recycle bins....lol.

Thanks for that link to the other thread on this Carolyn. :-)

One bit of good news, I mentioned it to DH this morning and he informed me I still have empties in the basement! Not sure how many yet, but at least I'll have enough to get started for the Solstice. We did clean out the basement awhile back and I thought they were tossed in the process but nope!

The simplest I've found is to use foil lasagana pans and slip them into two gallon baggies. I use bendy straws to prop up the baggie so it doesn't touch the soil. Most of the time I divide the tray in half, sowing one thing on the left and something else on the right.

Thanks Trudi, that sounds pretty easy and straightforward too. The pans and baggies are easy to find too. I imagine you get a lot of seedlings in a whole pan. I wanted to do a ton of alyssum this year and that might be a great way to do it.

PM2,

Like Trudi, I like to do big pans too and doing your Alyssum this way will work great. I've used the same 'bus buckets' for the last 7 years. These are the heavy duty plastic containers that restaurant busboys use to clear tables with and put all the dirty dishes in. The ones I got were being thrown out by a restaurant because the bottoms had split so the drainage was already there. At the end of transplanting everything out, I just place them one into the other and store for the next year.

I have also bought basket containers from the Dollar store which can be stacked neatly during the off season. They last a few years as well.

Thanks tiffy, pretty ingenious when you find something out of the ordinary and reuse it for something else. One of our local nurseries went out of business the year before last and sold off all their plastic crates that they used to move plants and I bought a half a dozen for a $1. each. They come in handy for everything in the garden. I was thinking I could use those and have drainage, but there wouldn't be any protection or insulation from the weather like there would be with a gallon jug or a rubbermaid container. I was thinking maybe some seeds won't need it, like any that might reseed naturally any way, like poppies or larkspur, alyssum, etc.

Well, this is an old thread, but thing that works best for me? The ground.

Indeed - an outdoor nursery bed - what's not to like?