Updated 2/14/26: Oviedo, FL: Learning to grow edibles from seeds has been a roller coaster ride for me. I have improved from epic failures and learned from master gardeners that I have visited or got to know. This is a documentary showing how I set up and organize my seedling station.

All About My Seedling Station Post Outline:

1. Printable: Recording Sheets for My Seedling Trays
2. Mama Snow’s Seedling Potting Mix Recipe
3. Location & Outdoor Shelving System
4. How I Organize and Store My Seeds
5. Seed Types: Heirloom, Open Pollinated, Hybrids F1
6. Seed Sellers
7. Seedling Pots and Supplies Recommendations

1. Printable: Recording Sheets For Bootstrap Farmer Seedling Pots and Trays

I updated my seedling station using mainly seedling pots and watering tray system from Bootstrap Farmer and Vego Garden. I created a recording sheet template to go with my seedling station. It’s been working wonderfully for me as I don’t need to water my seedling pots everyday and as often. I just fill the water into the tray every three days during the summer time and once a week during the cooler months.

Before switching over to the Bootstrap Farmer seedling pots with watering tray sets, I use the free 4-inch seedling pots I hoarded from nurseries and from people donating to me. It’s free but there are many drawbacks using these pots for a lazy laid-back gardener like me. I have to be on top of the watering every day and sometimes need to water the seedlings twice during the hot days. The soil dries out too quick. I dislike using these pots and am glad I made the decision to switch over to the Bootstrap Farmer seedling trays.

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2. Mama Snow’s Seedling Potting Mix Recipe

Recipe for about 30 gallons Seedling Potting Mix: updated 2/14/26

• 1.5 cu. ft. Peat Moss from Lowe’s
• 9 quarts coarse perlite
• 2 quarts Vermiculite
• 1 quart Bone Meal and or Blood Meal
• 1 quart Worm Casting
• 1 quart Azomite
• 2 cups Epson Seed Starter organic fertilizer
• 1 cup Oscomote Plus 15-9-12 fertilizer (optional for greens)

3. Location & Outdoor Shelving System

Finding the right location:

At first, I set up my seedling station on a side of my house with wind protection that gets full to mostly shade throughout the day, but the seedling shelves were exposed to the rain. I learned I need to pick a place with shelter above so the storm and rain won’t splatter the potting mix and seeds or at least check the forecast before sowing my seeds in open space. So I finally moved my seedling station under my covered patio in the backyard.

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4. Setting up the seedling shelves

I spent half of my year allowance to buy the following items to set up my shelving system.
66”x16” vented shelves for my shelving system: https://www.globalindustrial.com/p/structural-plastic-vented-shelf-66-x-16

12-inch structural shelving legs to raise the bottom shelf up high enough to make it easy to clean the bottom: https://www.globalindustrial.com/p/structural-plastic-shelf-leg-12in

18-inch structural shelving legs to add on the next shelving level: https://www.globalindustrial.com/p/structural-plastic-shelf-leg-18in

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5. How I Organize and Store My Seeds

Here are the seeds for my garden and my seeds-for-sale boxes. I recently switched over to storing my seeds using plastic photo storage case I saw at a Michaels Craft store. It was on sale for $19.99 per organizer and each organizer contains 16 photo boxes which allows me to store many more seeds by category and allows me to label it so I can see all the seed labels at a glance. I highly recommend buying this organizer for seed storage.

Storing seeds in the fridge or not: Some gardeners recommend storing seeds in the fridge. Heck, my fridge has no space for such things. My elders grew up with no refrigerator back in Vietnam and they are gardeners and farmers growing crops from seeds. So believe me, if you do not store your seeds in the fridge, it’s not the end of this world. Most seeds need to be stored in a dark dry place away from moisture and humidity while some seeds like paw paw seeds require refrigeration.

Storing seeds in paper bags versus plastic bags: Some folks who are environmentalists believe storing seeds in paper envelopes are the best way. It’s not the end of this world if you use plastic bags folks. As a matter of fact, I am forever a believer of storing seeds in plastic baggies. I sometimes forget my seed packets outside overnight a few times. The lord decided to pour down some rain on the days I forgot my seed bags outside. Guess what happens if those seeds were in paper envelopes?! They get wet and ruined. The seeds inside paper envelopes are all doomed. That’s the main reason why I learned never to store my seeds in paper envelopes ever again. Now there are also a downside of storing seeds in plastic bags too. Just make sure the bag is not punctured and are sealed tight, because plastic traps moisture and if somehow it traps moisture inside the bag, the seeds can get moldy. I do not have that seeds molding problem if I dry my seeds well before storing them in the plastic bags.

6. Type of Seeds

Heirloom seeds mean seeds that has been passed down for many generations. Saved heirloom seeds will grow true from seed.

Open pollinated seeds will grow true from seed. Saved open pollinated seeds will grow true from seed.

Hybrid F1 seeds have been cross pollinated by two other parentage of specific characteristics. Hybrid seeds are not GMO. There are eggheads out there who get this confused so don’t be an egghead. Hybrid seeds do not grow true from seeds. The plants emerged from the saved hybrid seeds will likely be one of the crossed parent. You will have to buy hybrid seeds every year from a reliable seed company or creator of the hybrid seeds.

7. Seed Sellers

I buy bulk amount of seeds to be able to offer it at $1 per packet for my seed sales to motivate new gardeners on a budget with a small yard like mine. See my Seed Inventory List for more details. The following are my favorite seed sellers:

• Pan Asia Heirloom shop on Etsy – I buy majority of the Asian greens and hybrid seeds there. Link:

• Hot Pepper Seed shop on Etsy – The owner, Nhân Hà, loves to collect and grow hundreds of pepper plants. He even created a few of his own hybrid pepper seeds. When it comes to buying pepper seeds, I recommend buying from his shop. He mails the seed packets with a stamp so we can save money instead of paying for the fancy padded envelope with tracking number.

• Urban Farmer – I stumbled upon this independent seed company and appreciate how they offer bulk seed amount. This has allowed me to offer the community $1 seed packet deal with the same equivalent amount or more compared to the $3-$7 per seed packets at local retail stores. Link

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• Botanical Interests – This seed company does not offer bulk seed amount but I like buying some of their $3-$4 seed packets and splitting the seeds up into three portions for sale to help me with the cost. After all, gardeners with a small yard like mine only need one or a few seeds. Insert link

8. Seedling Pots & Supplies

Here are some links to the products I use and recommend:

My favorite seedling pots are the high quality thick and sturdy colorful plastic pots from BootStrapFarmer.com. My husband once complained how he doesn’t like seeing so many black plastic pots in the backyard. I took that as an excuse to upgrade to these colorful and high quality seedling pots. 😂

Other gardening products I use and recommend:

• Gro Pro 10-gallon nursery pots from ZenHydro
• Peat Moss from Lowe’s
• Vigoro’s coarse perlite from Home Depot
• worm casting
• Cow Manure and Organic Compost from Home Depot
• Hi-Yield Bone and Blood Meal from Ace Hardware
• *Oil Based Sharpie for labeling
• Oscomote Plus 15-9-12: This is professional grade and so it’s expensive for common people like me. But I bought the bulk bag and split it up into gallon size bags of four pounds each and sold it on Facebook Marketplace by the unit price per pound. Local gardeners actually help pitch in to buy and split up the cost with me.
• Seeds – I sell 14 seed packets for a flat rate of $20 with shipping included. See my “Seeds for Sale Inventory List“