Seed starting with soil blocks
No matter how many times I go around the Sun with my hands and feet in the soil, the waking of tiny seeds in early Spring fills me with awe every time.
Holding them in my hand I’m given the promise of fragrant teas, nourishing broths, healing salves and endless hours spent in the presence of magical plant beings.
It all starts with the seeds. Like many farmers and growers, I have a treasure chest full of seeds: bought, traded, collected, saved. The seed catalogs arriving in December bring not only most needed color to the gray Ohio days but the beautiful images fill all of us with joy and anticipation.
Our favorite sources are Strictly Medicinal, Companion Plants, ( right here in Ohio), Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, Johnny's Selected Seeds and Botanical Interests.
After seeds comes soil. (No, we don't call it dirt. Dirt is what you sweep up off your floors). We have been using Ohio Earth Foods Organic Growers Mix and it works great for soil blocking. However, it relies on peat moss as its base, a non-renewable resource, so we are in the process of finding an adequate replacement. Perhaps, we can mix our own. But more about this in another post.
In a quest to reduce our use of plastics around the homestead, we settle on using soil blocks to start seeds. We have all three sizes or block makers available form Johnny's. We are forever grateful for Eliot Coleman for inventing these clever tools. When mixing soil and water, we aim for a consistency of brownie batter. It takes some practice to achieve just the right level of moisture but once you got it, using block makers is a breeze.
We use the smallest blocker to start tiny seeds like Petunia, Ageratum, and many of the perennial herbs like St. Johns wort. The small blocks are a perfect fit for the middle of the larger block baker which makes up planting so much easier than removing delicate seedlings from plug trays. Washing those plug trays are no fun either!
The free standing blocks not only provide more soil compared to plugs, but the air circulation around them is beneficial for the development of strong, healthy root system.
Now, for the cons, since nothing is life is perfect. ( a good cup of coffee comes pretty close to it). The blocks can be fragile so moving trays around requires more awareness. They should never left out in the rain, since they will return to their initial brownie batter state, with helpless seedlings floating around.
Want to learn more about the virtues of soil blocks? Check out Eliot Coleman's The New Organic Grower, or Four-Season Harvest.