Drive to a nice wooded area where there are lots of leaves, you may have to dig through the snow for them, or maybe even a field full of tall grass, then cut it down and up into little pieces leaving out the seeded tops, pile them as high as you can on the entire garden area. Leaves are kind of big and fly away with the wind, so mowing over them will keep them in place and it will be easier to break them down. You can also drive by local restaurants looking for coffee and tea grounds, salad scraps from the salad bars, pick through their garbage if you're allowed to, the scraps are considered green and so is manure. You can even compost in between the rows as the garden grows, but you will waste lots of space that way. Compost is the cheapest method and most accurate to revive bad soil, but then you can plant green manure. Green manure is living plants that give nutrients to the soil like clover, rye grass seed, yellow dock, etc.. At the end of the year you can plant them in your plot and more than likely they will stay alive until you dig them up at the beginning of your garden season. You can also plant these plants around or near your other plants to make them grow better while your garden is growing. A book I have says for every 5 to 6 foot area, put 3 inches of course composting material down like twigs, brush, corn stalks, etc, layered on top of each other for ventilation underneath, 6 inch layer of greens (grass, coffee grounds, clippings), 2 inches of manure ( from rabbit cages, guinea pig cages, or any animal that does not eat meat like cows, goats, sheep, etc), add one inch of soil, then repeat until the pile is about 5 feet high, making sure you water each layer to keep it moist, but not muddy, punch holes in the top of the pile reaching the very bottom 2 or 3 feet apart, keep watered if it dries out, and turn it at 3 to 4 week intervals until it's finished. Manure does not have to be used, but it's got lots of nutrients, you can just use brown dead animal plant matter like leaves, and then green layers in between. If you want to add soil in the mix like I described, maybe dig the soil up in that 5 to 6 foot area to remove the first 1 foot of soil, then add it slowly as you build you pile. You don't need anything but leaves if you want to keep it simple. Cover the entire area with mowed leaves 2 feet high, mowed so they will keep the bulk down, then water them, they will break down.

Not having ever done this, I could be really wrong about my suggestions -- it sort of depends on whether you're sprouting it in a jar and eating the whole thing, in which case my suggestions might not work, or whether you're planting in soil and cutting just the shoots like wheatgrass is harvested, in which case my suggestions will work. They are: 1) Popcorn from the grocery store. 2) Whole kernel corn from a feed or pet supply store. Either way, really cheap per pound, and available in bulk or bags. Generally, both of those will sprout very well.

Home Depot or Menards near you??? Fluorescent BASICshop light 4' one is only like 8.00 at Home Depot! The bulbs you want to use is one soft bulb (acts as the warm light) and one cool bulb......thebulbsarelike 5.00 per pack of two! So you haveto buy one two pack of each! The shop lights come with a chain and are best just attached to a shelf and the seedlings put under it....you plug them into a standard plug! Otherwise....if you only have a FEW to light up.....get a reading light that can take any style fluorescent bulb...you might want to find the bulb first then the light...buy a cheap fluorescent in soft light and place it over them for 16-18 hours per day...close range...like within 6"! Reading light = 20.00 bulb = 5.00 maybe!

Stella, I received seed from ET for the first time last year. I ordered 6 different varieties of seeds. Each packet had 12 seeds. I also received a bonus packet of unknow seed and that had 30+ seeds. I had almost 100% germination. I've ordered again this year and cannot wait to receive the order. The seedlings have been vigorous growers, very healthy. Unfortunately, I did not realize that my collection of sprouts had been found by snails until I had lost over half of them in the spring.... I figured that with shipping and all, disregarding the free seeds, I paid 50 cents per seed. By November, of the plants the snails did not get, half were already the size of plants I had paid 5$ apiece for at our cheapest nursery. When you figure cost like that, it is well worth the price of the seeds. Add in the bonus seeds, and I paid even less. Note that you are only guaranteed 10 seeds per pack and bonus packs depend on their harvest and are certainly not something you bank on receiving. If all I had received were the 10 seeds per pack I ordered, I would still be happy and consider myself ahead of the game the way hellebores are priced in my area.