Sunday Project: Seed Starting

With a little help from my son, I got my first seeds started today. I also got to test out my new soil block makers. I think my recipe needs a little tweaking, especially for the small 3/4" blocks. Some of them didn't hold together very well. I'll go ahead and try them out, hoping that the roots give them a little more structural support.

My soil block recipe was 3 parts peat moss, 3 parts garden soil, 2 parts sand, 2 parts worm castings, 1/2 part wood ash, and 2 parts water. (I was going to use less worm castings, as my worm bin is small and my supply limited. I was planning to use compost in it's place. But my compost pile is frozen solid. So I splurged on the first batch. It'll be interesting to see if I can tell a difference.

I also bought a small seed-starting "greenhouse". It's more like a bookshelf with a plastic cover than a greenhouse, but it has enough capacity for the indoor seed starts I want for this year. It will also allow me to cross one project off my overloaded project list for this year, which was building a 6x12 greenhouse on the south side of our (eventual) pole barn. I've got the plan in my head, and it'll be fairly straightforward to build, but I've learned that with my not-yet-four twins around, no project is ever simple. And I may find that the rack I bought is really all I need. We'll see how it goes.

So broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and Chinese cabbage seeds are in. I'll probably add some herbs to the list tomorrow. Another gardening season is underway. Woohoo!