There are many reasons to grow plants from seed. The primary ones are lower prices, a wider choice of varieties than buying transplants, and more resilience to supply disruptions. It is also useful if you are growing a fall garden, if you want to save your own seed, or if you want to get ambitious and try breeding your own varieties.

Photo by pygmycory Tomato Seedling

I have been growing plants from seed every year since 2011. I also grew up around and involved with various family members’ gardening habits. I know some of you have been growing plants from seed longer than I have been alive, and will know stuff I don’t, or have things you want to add. Please add your knowledge and experience in the comments: they are valued!

The main ways to start seeds are direct sowing, starting seeds indoors in pots or trays, or chitting them and then transferring them outdoors. No matter what method you choose, don’t forget to water, make sure the seedlings have plenty of light and make sure you feed them.

(Admin: I don't know about you, but socks are one of the things I spend money on for quality because I work (or did work for thirty years) in manufacturing on concrete floors. Tired and hurting feet will make your day go bad every time. Unfortunately they get holes in them and to my embarrassment, I often just toss them, when I should be repairing them. Green Wizard pygmycory has a quite novel solution for the problem and sent me this tutorial to post. Enjoy.)

(Photo by pygmycory)

Mending and Upcycling Wool Socks
by pygmycory

Wool socks are lovely, especially handknit ones in pretty colors. However, they don’t last forever, take a while to make, and are expensive to buy. So, what do you do when your favorite pair of socks develops a hole in the toe, or goes thin at the heel? Or when you’ve mended them so many times they no longer resemble socks?

Fortunately, you can mend wool socks easily and quickly by darning, and when they can be darned no more, you can often make them into other things.

Everyone owning a car/truck/SUV is not sustainable, and what cannot be sustained won’t be. Not forever. Electric cars sound nice, but when you follow the energy and the materials used to make them, the environmental benefits are a lot smaller than they initially seem. Electric vehicles are also still too expensive for a lot of people to buy, and vulnerable to instability in the grid. There also seems to be a potential problem with large numbers of electric cars worsening grid instability.

Doing without a car entirely is much better for the environment, and can save you a lot of money on insurance, gas, and repairs, as well as the cost of the car.

(copyright pygmycory, Green Wizards)

But modern North America is built around the assumption that everyone who matters has a car. So what’s the Green Wizard to do? Just how hard or easy is it to live without a car in North America, anyway?