Upcycle An Old Baking Sheet Into A Handy Garden Tool. Here's How

Upcycling is a great way to save money and keep things out of the landfill. Almost everyone has an old baking sheet laying around their kitchen. Why not upcycle it instead of adding it to the trash pile? There are tons of ways to repurpose baking sheets inside and outside the home, but if you're a gardener, that baking sheet can be transformed into your new favorite garden tool. You can easily use it as a seed starting tray.

A seed starting tray is a way to keep newly planted seeds and their soil together in the same space. This makes it easy to transport them all at once to a sunny area for light, water them all at the same pace, and eventually take them all out to the garden for easy transplanting. You can purchase a seed tray for anywhere from $6 to over $50. But you can save all that money and time spent waiting on your delivery by simply grabbing an old baking sheet right from the kitchen.

The best way to start seeds indoors is to first gather your pots, soil, and that handy old baking sheet. If you don't have pots already, reuse empty food containers as DIY seed starters. Fill each little pot with soil and make a shallow well in the center. This is where you can drop the seeds in. Depending on the type of seeds you're planting, the depth of the well will be different, but a good rule of thumb is to plant a seed twice as deep as the seed is wide. You can find the specifics on the packet your seeds came in. Cover each one with additional soil and add a bit of water. If you're planting different types of seeds, you might want to label each container appropriately before placing the potted seedlings onto the baking sheet.

Once your seed starting tray is filled and ready, you will need to cover it with plastic wrap or reuse a plastic container that will create a dome (like an empty salad container turned upside down). This traps the moisture and ensures proper germination of the seeds. Once the seeds begin to sprout, you can remove the plastic covering and allow them to get appropriate air flow. 

When it's time to water, simply add water to the bottom of the tray for bottom watering or mist it over the top. You can also easily transport the whole tray to a sunny spot to get some sunlight. And when it's time to transplant them into your outdoor garden, the tray makes it convenient to move them all outside together.