Under Construction!
I put together a page of garden supplies I use and love (or have used in the past). I am #notsponned (#Iwish) by any of these products, however some of the links I’ve included are affiliate links meaning I get a small commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through them. If you’re super interested in knowing more, here is my Disclosure Policy.
Now that my legal requirements are fulfilled, let’s look at some cool stuff!
Seed Starting & Indoor Growing
Gardman 4-Tier Greenhouse
My boyfriend’s mom got me this greenhouse for Christmas, and I absolutely love it. In fact, I’m thinking about getting a second one! During spring I’m able to use this as a seed starting station by combining it the the LED lights below. Then as I get ready to harden off my seedlings, I can move it out to my patio and use it for what’s it’s actually intended for. I love that it’s inexpensive, easy to assemble, and good quality for the money. It’s also easy to adjust the shelving to accommodate taller plants.
Unifun LED Growlight
I think I own 6 of these guys so far. I originally bought a Unifun LED Grow Light because I wanted to see if I could grow dragon tongue beans inside during the winter (I got a few beans, but we’re chalking the whole experiment up to a “learning experience”). But as I started turning my attention towards starting seeds indoors, I realized that I could attach these lamps with my new mini greenhouse to create a very effective seed starting station for relatively cheap.
Jiffy Professional Greenhouse Plant Starter Kit
I first learned about these through CaliKim’s Youtube channel. So as much as I like growing from seed and playing in dirt, you’d think I wouldn’t mind filling seed trays with dirt to start my seedlings. For some reason, it’s not a fun task for me. Too much effort in prepping maybe? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ These peat pellet starter trays though, I love! You can get the starter trays in several different sized, but the 25 and 50 pellet trays fit perfectly under my LED grow lights below, so I don’t have to worry about the outer sprouts getting leggy.
Best of all, the trays are reusable!
Jiffy Peat Pellets
If you enjoy growing from seed and you’re using the Jiffy Greenhouse, you may as well pick up a box of 200 peat pellet tray refills. Several, in fact. You can certainly go for smaller quantities, but…why would you?
Tools
Fiskars Micro-Tip Pruner
I have these on me at all times whether I’m gardening outdoors or indoors. These pruners are the perfect size when you just need to take a little off the top. It’s great for thinning out seedlings, removing dead or dying stems, or harvesting vegetables. I’ve had my pair for a little over a year now, and the blade has stayed sharp through some fairly heavy use.
Garden Weasel Claw Pro
I originally purchased the Garden Weasel Claw Pro to help remove weeds from my yard during the lawn re-sodding project. While it did a decent job helping there, it’s way more awesome for tilling and mixing my soil and compost. It’s super sturdy and easy to spray clean with a hose w/o rusting. You can use it standing upright, so no bending over. Easily, this is one of my most used (and loved) garden tools.
Soils, Fertilizers, Additives
Fox Farm Happy Frog Potting Soil
Thus far, Fox Farm Happy Frog potting soil is my favorite. I had been using Miracle Grow for a while which is fine for beginners as it’s a very affordable option when you’re getting started. But my first indication that this stuff was better was when I went to prepare the soil for use by moistening and mixing it by hand. With Miracle Grow, I always seemed to get little stickers and splinters in my hands when mixing in water. Not very comfortable! But with Happy Frog, it felt smooth and, dare I say, luxurious! However, the real test is what it does for my plants. The soil provides great drainage while hanging on to the necessary moisture, and it’s full of nutrients that any potted plant will benefit from.
I’d say the only downside to this potting soil is that it is on the pricey side, but to me, it’s totally worth it! Once you get a little more comfortable with planting, I’d highly recommend giving this a try. I think you’ll be please with how much better your container plants do.
Rapidtest Soil Test Kit
Before you touch any soil conditioners, it’s helpful to know what’s going on with your dirt. The Rapitest Soil Test Kit is a cheap and effective way to test your soil’s alkalinity and nitrogen, phosphorous, and potash levels. It also comes with a super handy guide on how to interpret your results and what materials you can use to correct any imbalances you may have. As an added bonus, the actual tests are really pretty! I’ve used this for my lawn re-sodding project to assess and correct my soil prior to laying down my beautiful sod. With plenty of extra tests in the kit, I’ll be using this to test the soil in my garden beds at the beginning and end of seasons too.
Espoma Garden Gypsum
If you have heavy, clay soil, one of the things that can really help loosen it up is gypsum. But I used Espoma Garden Gypsum in my last garden because it was the most cost effective product in my area. It just so happens it also helped a lot! So now, I love it. There are recommendations on the bag for how much gypsum to use, but I largely ignored that. For each plant I put in the ground, I threw a handful of gypsum in along with some fertilizer and other additives (as needed depending on the plant) in the hole, mixed it in with the native soil really well, then planted as normal.
My personal proof that this was doing the trick was when I replanted a couple plants last year, and had much more workable soil from where the gypsum had been mixed in. Anecdotal? Yes, I know. But I really feel that this had a hand in the improved soil.
Espoma Bio-Tone Starter Plus
I’m sure at this point, you’re thinking I’m fan-girling Espoma just a bit too much. Here’s the thing though-when you find something good, you stick with it. And that’s basically what happened with me and Espoma. I got a free sample of Bio-tone from my local garden center last year and started using it with the gypsum in my pre-planting mix. Again, I didn’t really measure. My goal with my soil at that time was just to inject as much nutrients as I could to make it readily available for my plants. So I’d throw about half a handful in my planting hole. Because it’s organic and slow-releasing, I didn’t have any problems with my plants ODing on fertilizer.
Fertilizer grade: 4-3-3
Fox Farm Grow Big
Once my vegetables are in the ground, I much prefer using a liquid fertilizer to feed them throughout the season. I’ve been really pleased with Fox Farm Grow Big. I use this once a week, and my vegetables seem pretty happy and productive.
Like a lot of the Fox Farm products, this stuff is on the pricey side. However, I think it works really nicely. And a little goes a long way. I’ve been playing around with cheaper options for liquid fertilizer, but if I don’t find something that works just as well, I will be sticking with this one long term.
Fertilizer grade: 6-4-4
Alaska Fish Fertilizer
And one of those cheaper options has been the Alaska Fish Fertilizer. If you’ve spent any time in the garden section of hardware stores, you’ve probably seen this…and kept of walking because EW FISH! I’m not sure this does enough to replace Grow Big in my vegetable garden, but it works great as a weekly boost for my flowers and shrubs. The smell is pretty intense because, again, fish. But this is very cost effective. And it does the trick. A word of caution though. If you have cats or dogs, keep them away from this stuff because, you know, fish. And they love that stuff.
Fertilizer grade: 5-1-1
Pest & Weed Control
Coming soon!
Containers
Coming soon!