Direct Sowing-Gardening Terms Hacked

Direct sowing has to be the easiest and least expensive method of seed starting for any garden. When you don't have time to make soda bottle greenhouses or use the sandwich bag method or don't want to spend money on buying soil or peat pellets direct sowing your seeds is the way to go. Simply sow your seeds according to the recommendations for planting depth and spacing in your garden or container garden where you would like for your plants to grow. Many of my seeds that require stratification I will just place in the ground where I want them to grow and will let the natural freeze-thaw-cycle do the work for me. There really isn't a more fool proof method of seed starting than direct sowing.

Etiolation-Glossary Hack

If you spend any time on gardening forums you may come across the word etiolation from time to time. You'll particularly encounter the word in Cacti and Succulents forums where it is often discussed or seen in pictures of people who are having trouble with their plants.

Basically etiolation occurs when a plant does not receive enough light and produce weak up-right growth. Plants that should be globular in growth start to stretch and grow upward like the cacti in the photo attached to this entry.

You can provide your plant with higher amounts of light by placing them in south facing windows or by building plant light shelves to supplement the low lights that you get indoors during the winter months. Once your plant has etiolated there isn't really a cure and it will look deformed forever.