It is early March in the South, and we are ramping up for St Patrick's Day, the Masters Golf tournament and planting our garden! Many of us have started our seeds and are beginning to plant our second cycle of seeds so we have fresh food all year.
One of the easiest things you can do on a budget is to recognize FREE SEEDS and plant them in a recycled container in your window sill. Peppers, celery, lemons, tomatoes and more all provide seeds or re-grow from the root of the plant! Viola! You have FREE FOOD! The real secret is to use a seed starting soil - not potting soil and certainly not garden soil (save those for later on). Seed starting soil is very soft, airy and allows the seed to have a substrate support system but lots of air and room to put out roots. This year, I have been using Jiffy brand organic seed starting mix https://amzn.to/3LsIF0S
For things like lemons or limes, simply soak the seed in a cup of spring water for 24 hrs then place the seed on a damp paper towel, sprinkle with cinnamon, fold and place into a zip lock bag. The paper towel should just be damp, not dripping wet and once you have sealed the zip lock, place it in your pantry and forget about it for about 3 weeks - then take a peek and you will see little roots/leaves appear! At this point you can plant the seedling in your Jiffy Seed starting mix - again, you want to give the plant time to become a bit more hardy before placing it into a potting soil.
Hope you enjoy looking through your refrigerator and finding FREE SEEDS to start a food source for your home today!