If you’re going to start a few seeds it’s probably easiest to buy yourself a bag of soil-less seed starting mix. But if you plan on starting a lot of seeds it makes a whole lot more economic sense to make up your own mix. A quick glance at the bag of any commercial mix will tell you that it is a simple recipe, mostly sphagnum peat moss with some vermiculite tossed in to lighten it up. There is probably also some added fertilizer and a wetting agent (most of which are, apparently, not certified organic according to widely disseminated internet lore).
A quick tour of the web offers up a multitude of home recipes for starting mix. Frankly, I like to keep it as simple as possible, three parts peat moss to 1 part vermiculite or perlite. One of the keys to working with this mix is to wet it before you start working with it. With the dry mix in a 5 gallon bucket, I like to mix a small amount of liquid starter fertilizer in with the water and then slowly add it to the dry mix, mixing throughly, until it will clump together in my hand when squeezed.
When filling the cell trays I place a pile of the moistened mix in the center of the tray and then sweep my hand across the top of the tray to distribute it to the cells. It is important to not press the mix into the cells too tightly, this will press the air out, increasing the density of the mix and will slow the root growth of your seedlings.
Store left over starting mix in an air tight bucket.
Thus, let the growing begin – - – - – !!!!
There you go again getting all professional on us! Personally, I just grab a handful of dirt from the garden along with some compost. Of course, sometimes there are lingering seeds in the compost which can mean that what comes up isn't exactly what I planted, but that's just part of the fun! :~)
Well…you could sterilize it in the oven before you plant your seeds ":?) I've been reading some posts on growing mushrooms and that's what a lot of people do to sterilize their growing medium. As we say in gardening, whatever works. I have a tendency to over-think sometimes.
Hmmm… sterilizing it in the oven is something I never thought of. I suppose it would take care of the weed seeds, but I admit I'm kinda fond of the volunteer tomatoes!
easier yet, microwave it.
Peat moss has a lot of sticks and clumps in it so I like to shift all of that out before I mix it with vermiculite….John never bothers to do that but he *does* like it when I do it!
<3
The reason for doing this it so that tender seedling roots don't get grow around this stuff and then get damaged when the plant is pulled out for transplanting. We have a vintage sifter that a neighbor gave us but a piece of hardware cloth laid over a bucket will work just fine as well.
[...] Do-It-Yourself Quick and Easy Seed Starting Mix [...]
[...] if the soil in the trays has become compacted. To start, fill your transplant pots with moistened potting or transplant mix making sure not to overly compact the mix. Holding the pot in one hand and use the thumb of your [...]
[...] in yogurt containers) one more time. My arms are sore from stirring up six or more buckets of seed starting mix yesterday. The seed starting rack in the garage is full and the tiny greenhouse is near bursting. I [...]