How to Make Your Own Indoor Mini-Greenhouse the Cheap Way

The cake containers I'm referring to are the ones with a colored plastic base and a clear plastic domed lid that snaps on and off. They make perfect seed starter greenhouses! The rectangular ones hold lots of peat pots or peat pellets, and even more of the 1" starter cubes. Square or rectangle cake containers work best. The only problem with the round ones is that they take up more space by not fitting snugly against each other. Other than that, there is nothing wrong with the round containers. Round peat pellets work very nicely in the round pans; usually at least 9 will fit in a single cake or pie sized container.

Simply arrange your peat pellets or starter cubes on the plastic bottom part of the container. Moisten the growing medium as required, and plant your seeds or cuttings. Snap the clear dome top back on the base, and your little greenhouse is all set. Keep it warm, and your garden plants will be growing in a few days. Some of the cake containers have air holes in the bottom section. Keep this in mind when you place your greenhouses near your windows and don't put them where a water leak could ruin furniture.

Sometimes it is possible to retrieve the cardboard from under a cake. If I have kept the cardboard, I wrap it in aluminum foil and tape it to the underside of the bottom section of the container to stabilize it. The foil waterproofs the cardboard, and the cardboard acts as temperature insulation and also makes it easier to move the container of seedlings.

The "disposable" aluminum baking pans with clear plastic lids are good plant starter trays, too. I have no south facing windows, and I'm always trying to juggle plant trays to give them all enough light. The aluminum baking pans reflect light, and that's a plus in my house. They wobble a bit, but they are somewhat sturdier and more waterproof than the plastic cake domes. I've been known to rescue these pans and lids from the trash after a church pitch-in dinner!

If you purchase plants at a nursery, save the little celled trays! Even though they seem flimsy, they are very reusable. Collect them from friends and neighbors. These things will all stack inside each other and can be stored over the winter in a very small space. Reusing these will make you feel extra good about starting your own garden plants!