What did you do in the garden today?

[Sally PB]

I think maybe it was @Sally PB who made it for her Greenstalk?

Nope, not me... I don't have a Greenstalk.

I do make my own potting soil, though. I use 80-100 pots' worth of soil, and the pots are the size of large cottage cheese/yogurt containers, so that I don't have to up-pot anything. That's a lot of potting soil!

 

[Molpet]

I cannot use my Black Gold chicken run compost for my seed starting indoors.

Put in bucket and add boiling water.
Or put in oven on low, but wife may not like the scent

 

[Minanora]

View attachment 4070960

Awesome! Firewood and mulch! Win win!

 

[gtaus]

Seeds don’t need that fertilizer to sprout, they have everything on board needed to accomplish that and soil without additional fertilizer is recommended for seed starting.

I do know that seeds don't need any fertilizer to spout and have that initial growth spurt. The off brand potting mix I used was good enough to sprout the seeds, but it failed to sustain any growth. I did not use any liquid fertilizer on those plants. Maybe that was the problem.

The year before I used MiracleGro with fertilizer and the plants grew great after germination - without any additional liquid fertilizer. So, I was thinking the seed starting/potting soil should not need additional fertilizer if it was any good.

I have never heard that additional fertilizer in the mix was not recommended for seed starting. I think the soils that I have looked at have a timed-release fertilizer which allows them to feed the plant up to that 6 or 9 months.

Look up Mel’s mix,

I used Mel's mix years ago when I first got into raised beds. I had great results the first year. However, you need to add additional fertilizer's every year to keep the system growing. I found the Mel's mix worked great as long as you were willing to spend the money on fertilizers. But Mel's mix was an expensive way to grow food in raised beds and I started looking for less costly alternatives.

Because of the initial cost of buying all the ingredients for Mel's mix, I was limited to how many raised beds I could afford to fill. The cost of additional fertilizers to keep the system healthy limited my ability to expand my number of raised beds. If budget is of no concern, then Mel's mix is certainly a great method and I did have excellent results. Budget was a concern of mine and I thought there had to be a better, less expensive, way for me to garden. The cost of Mel's mix per raised bed was unsustainable for my budget, limiting me to a small number of beds, and no desire to expand due to the cost.

I started making compost in pallet wood bins and using that instead of chemical fertilizers. That is normally a slow process where I live. But it did allow me to fill additional raised beds.

Over time, I got a backyard flock, converted my chicken run into a chicken run composting system, and make more Black Gold chicken run compost than I need every year - for free. That allowed me to double the number of raised beds I could support, and then I doubled that number again. Each year I have been adding new raised beds, filled with hügelkultur wood, organics, and then a final mix of high-quality topsoil and chicken run compost 1:1.

That chicken run compost has been the magic mix for me, all natural, free and ready to harvest as needed. There is a part of me that really feels great about not having to buy all those expensive ingredients required for Mel's mix and not using chemical fertilizers in my beds. I get the same, or better, results using topsoil mixed with chicken run compost in my hügelkultur raised beds at a fraction of the cost. Chickens and gardening just go together.

Once you have your sprouts, then fertilize with quarter or half strength fertilizer every couple of weeks. Pour the water into the tray below and not over the top of the soil. Always water seed starts that way and you’ll avoid a lot of issues.

I will be looking more into the effects of having a potting soil with timed fertilizer has on seed starting. I am not opposed to using fertilizers as needed for my indoor plant starts. I do bottom water all my seed starting pots as I now use 3-inch net cups as my main method. Previously, I top watered my plants and killed many of them. I have much better results with bottom watering as you suggested.

Here is a picture of the 3-inch net pots which I use to start and grow my tomato and pepper plants for about 8 weeks inside the house. I have had more success with this method than others I have tried. But every year I will experiment with other methods as well. When it comes to gardening, I am always learning...

 

[Minanora]

We got another 10 foot raised bed built (have plans to do one more) and removed some chicken wire I had used for growing veggies.

We're thinking of lining the chain-link fence that is parallel with the street with arborvitae for privacy but we're not planning to be here for more than about 4 more years so I don't know if I want to make that investment.

As someone who has lived in their "only going to be here for 5 years" home for almost 11 years, I say go for it!

 

[gtaus]

Put in bucket and add boiling water.
Or put in oven on low, but wife may not like the scent

I do use the boiling water method to sterilize even the "sterile" potting mix I buy in the bags. I don't think Dear Wife would take kindly to me cooking compost in "her" oven.

But your suggestion has me thinking about using some of my existing raised bed soil with chicken run compost, sifting it really good, sterilizing it with boiling water, and just using that as my seed starting mix this year. It will be some time before I can get into the chicken run and work up the compost to sift it out. It's still rock-hard frozen outside. But I could take some topsoil mix from the raised beds and replace it later in the spring with fresh compost at that time. I have to top off my hügelkultur beds every year before planting anyways. So, thanks for the suggestion.

If that works, maybe I can sift out and save some chicken run compost this year in a can for use as next year's seed starting mix. That would certainly be more sustainable for me.

 

[CatInTheHenHouse]

I wish I could do chicken compost. The bagged stuff I find is infested with fungus gnats, and I wouldn’t be picking out the bits of plastic.

(I’m doing a roughly 50-50 mix of coco coir and bagged cow manure, with a little paper Dixie cup of perlite for aeration/anti compaction. I tried pure coir on my onion seeds - I had trouble finding bagged compost in February - but they keep needing fertilizer.)

I do like the coir blocks for mixing up small batches of soil; it’s lighter and easier to transport and store than the bagged stuff, and while I do have to mix it up I only have to mix up what I need, so the rest doesn’t sit around getting moldy and bug infested.

 

[cj2024]

Last year I bought some off brand potting soil for my seed starting. The seeds germinated, but the plants never took off and I had to restart over in some MiracleGro potting soil. The new plants in MiracleGro were fine. Lesson learned, don't buy the cheap stuff. Here are a few options I am looking at to try this year.

Does anyone have an opinion on Schultz Potting Soil Plus?

View attachment 4072134

I can get a 2 cubic foot bag of that for about $10.00. That would be enough for all my seed starting for the year. I like how it says it will feed the plant for up to 9 months. I need my plants in the potting soil, indoors, for 2 months before I transplant them into the gardens.

The MiracleGro is twice the price, but I would get it if it was twice as good. It says it will feed up to 6 months. I just don't know which is a better deal. Or maybe some other options?

View attachment 4072136

I would appreciate any advice on which soil to use for seed starting and growing tomato and pepper plants, indoors, for 8 weeks before transplanting. I don't want to repeat my mistake last year with poor potting soil.

EDIT: I cannot use my Black Gold chicken run compost for my seed starting indoors. There is just too much life in that compost, and I got a lot of little bugs inside the house. Someday I hope to have a greenhouse outside, but until then, I need sterile potting soils inside the house.

I don't think potting soil or potting mix is made for seed starting. I use the Burpee 72 count super growing pellets made from coconut fiber from my local Walmart. These were made to fit in the small cell seed trays. If I needed to use liquid fertilizer, I would mix it at half strength until plants are big enough for full dose. However, I only grow a handful of stuff at a time.

 

[WthrLady]

Last year I bought some off brand potting soil for my seed starting. The seeds germinated, but the plants never took off and I had to restart over in some MiracleGro potting soil. The new plants in MiracleGro were fine. Lesson learned, don't buy the cheap stuff. Here are a few options I am looking at to try this year.

Does anyone have an opinion on Schultz Potting Soil Plus?

View attachment 4072134

I can get a 2 cubic foot bag of that for about $10.00. That would be enough for all my seed starting for the year. I like how it says it will feed the plant for up to 9 months. I need my plants in the potting soil, indoors, for 2 months before I transplant them into the gardens.

The MiracleGro is twice the price, but I would get it if it was twice as good. It says it will feed up to 6 months. I just don't know which is a better deal. Or maybe some other options?

View attachment 4072136

I would appreciate any advice on which soil to use for seed starting and growing tomato and pepper plants, indoors, for 8 weeks before transplanting. I don't want to repeat my mistake last year with poor potting soil.

EDIT: I cannot use my Black Gold chicken run compost for my seed starting indoors. There is just too much life in that compost, and I got a lot of little bugs inside the house. Someday I hope to have a greenhouse outside, but until then, I need sterile potting soils inside the house.

I use Pro-mix soil. I've seen it at Menards, home Depot, and Walmart - yellow and back compressed cube.
I used to mix my own to fill all my greenhouse flats, but it wasn't cost effective anymore. And one year coir came in salted and destroyed everything.

 

[Smokerbill]

I do use the boiling water method to sterilize even the "sterile" potting mix I buy in the bags. I don't think Dear Wife would take kindly to me cooking compost in "her" oven.

But your suggestion has me thinking about using some of my existing raised bed soil with chicken run compost, sifting it really good, sterilizing it with boiling water, and just using that as my seed starting mix this year. It will be some time before I can get into the chicken run and work up the compost to sift it out. It's still rock-hard frozen outside. But I could take some topsoil mix from the raised beds and replace it later in the spring with fresh compost at that time. I have to top off my hügelkultur beds every year before planting anyways. So, thanks for the suggestion.

If that works, maybe I can sift out and save some chicken run compost this year in a can for use as next year's seed starting mix. That would certainly be more sustainable for me.

Maybe the potting soil could be sterilized using an outdoor propane grill.