Large bushel-sized wheelbarrow or other container for mixing
1 “bucket” which measures 10-quarts and 5-quarts (half bucket)
trowel or other mixing implement; (or hands, with or without gloves)
sifting screen made with ¼” hardware cloth or minnow trap
INGREDIENTS
IMPORTANT: All ingredients should be screened to 1/4” before measuring and adding to the mix.
1 ½ buckets peat OR half peat/half coco peat
1 bucket compost, thoroughly decomposed (I always use purchased compost which is more consistent than my homemade compost. I buy EKO Compost, available in CO at big box stores & garden centers.)
2 1/4 cups Base Fertilizer (see below)
1 bucket perlite
½ bucket good garden soil (or more compost)
BASE FERTILIZER: Mix all ingredients together well.
½ cup blood meal, feather meal, cottonseed meal, shrimp or crab meal, or alfalfa meal
½ cup colloidal phosphate (soft rock phosphate)
½ cup greensand
½ cup glacial rock dust or mined rock dust
¼ cup agricultural lime (powdered)
INSTRUCTIONS
Mix together the Base Fertilizer and set aside Mix together the peat and compost Add the Base Fertilizer and mix well Add the perlite and mix well Add the good garden soil and mix well
To learn how I use this mix to make soil blocks for starting my seedlings, click below.
Starting seedlings indoors is my go-to process for almost everything that I grow in the garden and greenhouse. For the short season here in our high altitude location, this is especially important. It allows a head start on plants that need time to grow, and starting seeds in the warm, protected conditions indoors makes for healthier plants. There are many ways to start seedlings indoors: using soil blocks, divided seed starting trays, peat pots, plugs, newspaper pots, in trays, greenhouse beds, etc. They are usually started in greenhouses, spare rooms or basements under grow lights, on top of warming mats, etc. Everyone has their favorite method, as do I.
SOIL BLOCKS I use “SOIL BLOCKS” to start all my seedlings indoors under grow lights. The only seeds I will direct-seed outdoors are peas, carrots & parsnips. It is usually recommended to direct-seed beans, beets & corn outside (it is said that they don’t transplant well), but I’ve had great success by starting all of these indoors using soil blocks. The transplant process is easy and good for the plants. With soil blocks there is no need to remove seedlings from small pots or carefully separate them out of seeding trays. My experience with peat pots or newspaper pots are that they work ok, but it still takes time for them to break down for roots to get through, and the soil blocks are much better at allowing the roots room to grow.
These blocks are not just for getting a head start on the outdoor season. I normally begin all my greenhouse vegetables in the soil blocks also. Although the greenhouse is quite conducive to starting things directly in the beds due to its warmth, the soil blocks not only give the plants a better start, they also allow me to get new plants started while other plants are still filling the beds or allow the soil to rest a bit between plantings. Additionally, since my greenhouse beds are plagued with pill bugs (or roly-polys) which often eat seeds or young seedlings, starting these veggies in soil blocks ensures success.
SOIL BLOCK MAKERS My soil blocks are made with block makers made by Ladbrooke Soil Blockers. They can be found at several garden supply websites such asGrowOrganic.com or JohnnySeeds.com, along with information about using them. It’s a bit of an investment, but these blockers make great plant starts with a high success rate and the block makers last a long time. I’ve been using mine now since 2009. There are instructions for making your own DIY block makers found on several sites on the internet, but I think the Ladbrooke block makers are well worth the investment.
The soil block makers come in three sizes. The most commonly used is the 2″ mini block. There is also the 4″ maxi, which is made with a hole just the right size to fit the mini block into it after the seedling has grown a bit. The 3/4″ micro size is intended for starting a larger inventory of small seeds with less soil material. I experimented quite a bit with the micro size, but rarely use it anymore. See below.
It’s helpful to read the booklet, “Transplants in Soil Blocks” by David Tresemer. He did a lot of research using this method, and explains which seeds can be started in soil blocks, as well as how many seeds can be planted in each block (for multiplanting), etc.
SOIL USED IN SOIL BLOCKS Making the blocks takes a little practice and some trial and error, but after a little practice, it’s “as easy as pie” — mud pie, that is. It is important to use a mix that will encourage growth and hold together well. I’ve read about people having difficulty with soil blocks after trying to use purchased potting soil or soil from their gardens, so it’s important to start with a good mix. There are a few soil block recipes available on the internet, including a popular one used by Eliot Coleman, and a few companies will sell a pre-made mix for a price. I use a recipe very similar to Eliot Coleman’s which uses peat moss, perlite, compost, some garden soil, and some various minerals and nutrients. The soil block mix recipe I use can be found here.
“Mini” Blocks – 2″
2″ MINI BLOCKS
These 2″ blocks, the “mini” blocks, are now what I use exclusively rather than starting with the smaller micro blocks. I simply start the seeds directly in these to transplant later either directly to the garden or to the “maxi” blocks shown below. To start directly in the mini blocks, there are interchangeable pins for these block makers to make different size indentations for the seeds. The photo at the left shows the mini blocks with the micro block placed it its cubed-shaped indention. Normally I use a smaller pin than the cube-size shown here to start seeds directly in the mini blocks. The micro-to-mini block instructions are here fyi.
After the seeds sprout in the micro blocks and appear to be established, they can easily be transferred to blocks slightly larger, where the roots will have more room to grow. This shows the micro blocks placed into the mini blocks. After seeds have begun to grow, they are transplanted into 2″ MINI blocks, The 2″ mini blocks can be made with a cube-shaped hole in the middle just the right size to fit the ¾” micros. The photo here shows how nicely they fit. This gives the seedlings a chance to grow more before being transplanted either outdoors or into MAXI blocks for further growth indoors.
Larger seeds, or seeds that grow very quickly, such as tomatoes, peppers, beets, squash, and even corn & beans can be started directly in the 2″ mini block, which can be made with a ½” or 1″ dimple in which to place the seeds. With this method I even start my corn and beans in blocks, although most garden resources indicate they should not be started indoors and that they don’t transplant well. In our short growing season it gives them a nice head start, and when transplanted outside I have nice, even rows of things that have all germinated–no empty spaces from sprouting failures. I also use aluminum cake pans for these, with 20 blocks per tray, loosely covered with the plastic lids that come with the trays, until seedlings are too large for the lid. Many seedlings can stay in this size block until being planted in the garden, others may need to be transplanted again, into larger blocks.
“Maxi” Blocks – 4″
MAXI BLOCKS
After plants begin to outgrow the 2” mini blocks but need to remain indoors for more growth, they can be transplanted into the 4″ maxi block until they are ready to be transplanted outside. These blocks are made with a 2″ cube indentation, just about the right size to fit the 2″ blocks.
I feel that the cube indentation is a bit short for many of the seedlings, such as tomatoes, which can be buried more deeply up the stem. To make more space I will dig about 1/4-1/2″ of the soil out with a kitchen fork from the bottom of each block’s indentation. After putting the smaller block into the larger, I add some soil at the top and bury the stem just a little more.
NOTE: With the heated greenhouse, I often skip the step of putting things in the maxi blocks. For the additional growth, I simply save a space in a greenhouse bed that I call the “nursery”, where I will temporary plant the mini-blocked seedlings until they are ready to go outside. I find that the block will stay pretty much intact in the bed and is easy to dig up and transplant to the outdoor garden. These seedlings can be planted fairly close together, since they will soon to be transplanted out. This saves the effort and material that would have been used in making the maxi blocks. I often keep these seedlings in the greenhouse bed up to a month prior to transplanting outdoors.
“Micro” Blocks – 3/4″
MICRO BLOCKS
Update: For some time I started many seedlings in these “micro” blocks shown here, but over time I’ve abandoned this method mostly because I am growing fewer things at a time and find it just as easy to start directly in the “mini” blocks.
Germination can start for many of the smaller size seeds (flowers, herbs, etc.) in the 3/4″ MICRO blocks shown here. This gives them a chance to start in a cozy, warm, small space, with very little soil. The Ladbrooke blocker to make these makes 20 small blocks at a time. I put them in these inexpensive cake pans, or other plastic containers saved from frozen meals. The seeds start more quickly in these small blocks and nutrient-rich soil than they would outside. One benefit of starting seeds this way is that when seeds don’t sprout, you haven’t wasted much space or material. It’s important to keep these small seeds & seedlings moist, but not too wet while in these blocks. I usually keep a sprayer handy and spray them a couple of times a day, with some extra water in the tray for bottom watering. Until the seedlings emerge, I keep a lid on loosely, and keep the trays on TOP of my grow lights, to allow for bottom warmth. Once they emerge, they go under the lights, which are kept about 2” above the seedlings. If they do get too dry, not to worry, they’ll usually perk up just fine after some water is applied.
The “Micro” block mix recipe is a little different, and can be found here: MICRO BLOCK MIX
SOIL BLOCKS GROW WELL UNDER LIGHTS OR IN A SUNNY WINDOW
2011 tomatoes transplanted into maxi blocksSame tomatoes, about two weeks later.
The seedlings grow fast under lights. See how healthy they are after being started and transplanted to the maxi blocks under lights! These tomatoes (2013) were started at 8 weeks before the last frost, and were ready to go outside, but the outside wasn’t quite ready for them. They got a bit taller than I’d like prior to planting out. They don’t really gain much by being started too soon before going outside. I believe 6-7 weeks is plenty of time for tomatoes to get a good start, and if the weather should be too nasty for them to be planted out, another week inside won’t cause any harm. See how nice and leafy these plants are?
2009: Tall, “leggy” tomatoes before I knew not to start them too early.
Many plants started indoors or in greenhouses in small pots get too tall and leggy. At the right is a photo of my first year’s tomato plants, before I began to use the soil blocks. They required staking in these pots to keep them upright, and although they survived outdoors after transplant, it would have been better to send them out as a shorter, stockier plant. A good way to keep them from getting too tall indoors is to keep the lights just a couple of inches above the top of the plants. It’s also helpful to put a fan on them a portion of each day, or to wiggle them with your hands a bit, to strengthen the stems. This is particularly helpful if your location is windy—they need to get ready to withstand that wind outside!
Below is a photo of one of my tomatoes in its maxi block, just prior to planting. It is not too tall, it’s a nice dark green, and it should grow well after being planted outside.
Nice, short, stocky tomato plant in 4″ maxi block.
KEEPING TRACK OF SEEDLINGS IN BLOCKS
Seedlings just started correspond with the second chart shown on the sheet above.
When using these micro and mini blocks it can be difficult to know which blocks are which seeds! There is no container to mark on the side, and no room for a name-stake. The aluminum cake pans I use as shown here will hold 20 mini-blocks, or 120 micro-blocks. I have made up sheets I can use to pencil in the seeds I have planted, shown at the left. Each sheet shows 3 trays of seeds. I mark the side of each tray with the date and tray # so I know which side is up. I’ve also made up some similar sheets for the 10×20″ trays I sometimes use, which will hold 50 mini blocks.
Here’s a couple of photos of our indoor forest, growing in their MAXI blocks. The tomato plants are growing like crazy, and I have to lift the lights a notch higher every day or two. I’m thinking that next year I won’t plant them quite as early, and may hold off an extra week or so longer for the tallest varieties. The peppers are also doing well, but not quite as tall.
Today I plan to start my squash and cucumbers, and get them going before I put them outside. It’s about 3 weeks until planting! Woohoooo!
Some of the things that sprouted in the MICRO blocks are ready to go into MINI blocks. I’ve made my first batch of 2″ MINI blocks with the 3/4″ pin to make a hole big enough for the MICRO blocks to be inserted.
I was frustrated and concerned that the 3/4″ pin in the MINI wasn’t really deep enough to put in the MICRO and have it even with the surface. I’d even like it to be a little below the surface, because some of these seedlings so close to the top are floppy, and I want to give them a little extra soil for support. I had Tim add a small piece of something to the insert to give it a little more depth. At first it didn’t work real well–it may have been too deep. He made tweaked it a bit and now it’s working well.
I also went back to the “drawing board”, in this case the pottingblocks.com website, to review the procedure. I think my mixture wasn’t wet enough at first. I made it wetter, and it’s working great now. When I drop the blocks from the device, I’m also pushing down and up a bit as I release them, to remove the suction before I allow it to go all the way to the bottom to drop.
All said and done, the MINI blocks, with MICROS planted in them look like this:
For “bottom” watering, I’m using these cake pans with lids. (I know, I bought these things, but at least they’re cheap, and re-usable.) I drilled some holes in the bottom of the aluminum pan and place the plastic lid underneath. I can lift the aluminum pan out, pour water into the plastic lid, replace the aluminum pan with the blocks, and the water soaks up from the bottom to water the blocks. Nice.
Yesterday I made my first batch of “micro blocks” for germination. I’m starting some lettuce, spinach, kale, leeks & scallions to go into my cold frame early, before the last frost date. I’ll probably plant them in early to mid-April. I’m also giving some onions a good start before planting out.
This is my first experiment using the micro blocks. In the past, I found that germinating in the 2″ blocks was inconsistent, and I ended up with empty blocks I kept replanting, and in the trays I had them in, I ended up with seedlings of different ages all mixed in. Hopefully with this method there will be less waste of the empty blocks. Starting early like this, I’ll get a good trial run to see how well this method works.
Our first seeds have been sown outdoors! Today we finally got Tier #1 ready to plant and put in some of the pea seeds, along with a few rutabegas. According to my research, they grow well together. In a couple of weeks I will add cucmbers to this section. I started some snow peas and sugar snap peas. They’ll grow up the terrace, and we will put vertical wires from the fencing to the top for them to hang onto.
The horses were watching intently, especially mysocial Brego, but wouldn’t you know, took off when the camera came out!
I also made some more 2″ soil blocks and started more seeds in the house. After reading that a few things like corn can be successfully planted in blocks, I’m trying a few of those, then will start others outside for comparison purposes. I tried multi-planting them, two in some blocks, four in others, to see how they do. This is really an experimental year, so it will be interesting to see what works best, then I can follow through with the best methods next year. I also started a few things that I need a little of at a time, like lettuce and spinach, to continue my succession plantings.
Hopefully tomorrow we will get the asparagas bed ready to plant and also Tier #4, where I will plant lettuce, endive, spinach, broccoli, kale and parsley, which are already growing and ready to go outside. These have been going outside daily, in at night.
We’ve also been putting out the big tomato plants
(which are so tall I’ve had to stake in their pots) and Topsy Turvy tomatoes. We goofed and left the hanging ones outside last night–it didn’t freeze, they’re still alive, I hope it doesn’t hurt them!
I’m really having trouble with Blogger, spacing these photos and text. It works better using Google Chrome over Firefox, but even Chrome is presenting problems–you’d think at least Google would get their own two products working together! (Vent)
I must say, the seedlings started in the soil blocks (with the soil recipe found in the Burpee book) are doing MUCH better than the ones I started previously in store-bought soil starting mix! I will not go back to the previous method! The soil blocks are so handy (and cute) and the bottom-watering process is easy. I lift out my tray with holes in the bottom, pour water in the plastic tray underneath, then dunk the soil blocks in their holey tray back down into the water. I either spray the tops or drizzle a little extra water on top if the tops appear dry. These new tomatoes (started 3/20) are very cute, eh? The empty blocks are some seeds I planted in some of the blocks that didn’t germinate–I figured it would be worth a try to re-use them.
Peppers: Small pot seed planted 2/20. Soil blocker seed planted 3/20. The soil blocker plant is swiftly catching up with the one planted in the small pot!
I made some more soil blocks and started a few new seeds, some for things I hadn’t started yet (sage, summer savory), a few more tomatoes for a later season harvest, some more spinach (some of the ones I’d started never germinated–this way I’ll have a few more to harvest later on, some more endive and lettuce, and some sweet peas. At least I’m being smarter and not planting too many of any one thing all at once. Next year I’ll know better right from the start.
Soon we will need to get some soil ready to plant a few things that can go out previous to the frost date–then I’ll have more room under the lights inside to transplant other seedlings into larger pots.Tim is working on the raised area on the west side of the yard. It had previously been held up by some old railroad ties that were in bad shape and leaning. He took out a raised bed that had been supported by large bricks, so he put these bricks alongside the new raised area and will fill that in with dirt (photos to come). He also began to take out a small pine tree that was there, then stopped limbing it so we can think about doing something clever with the tree trunk–put a birdhouse or feeder on top? String wires to it like a maypole and grow pole beans or something from it? Hmmm… Here is a “before” picture from last February, I’ll add some photos tomorrow of what it looks like now.
We plan to get rid of the hot tub that is currently set on a brick patio, and replace it with a nice table and chairs. In front of this I might plant some flowers and ground cover, and enjoy this cute little spot. Tim warns me that it will be hot there in summer and too buggy to enjoy, but I’m sure there will be some times that it will be nice. I envision enjoying coffee there in the mornings!
I made a few more blocks today–very fun. We haven’t built more grow lights yet, and the ones we have are pretty full, so I was wondering what to do with these newly planted seeds until we make the new grow lights. They don’t really need light until they germinate, but I need to keep them away from the cats. Aha! I put them on TOP of the current grow lights. They should benefit from the warmth of the lights, too. The trays of soil blocks look like brownies at first glance! Soon there will be little plants coming out of the top–basil brownies perhaps?
At night we’ve been covering the seedling area with the blankets tacked on top, to keep the cats out overnight, and that’s been working. The next shelf for our grow bench here will be underneath the current one, so we’ll have to create some way to keep the cats out….some sort of screen or something.
It seems like the costs keep adding up: we need this, we need that… So this first year will definitely be our “investment” year. After the initial costs, each year in the future we’ll be able to count our savings by growing our own food.
I ordered the 4″ blocker today. I got a call later to tell me it’s backordered until May 1. Dang! So I ordered it from another company and hopefully their’s aren’t backordered. I haven’t heard yet.
It sure is tempting to over-plant the seeds. I’m getting smarter and not planting so many all at once like I did with the first batch of tomatoes. I’m sure I’ll be giving away some of those seedlings, if they live. I’m a little concerned–they are looking sickly since I transplanted them. Hopefully they’ll perk up.
I made my first soil blocks today! Here’s photos of my first row, and then 4 trays almost done. There are a few recipes around for the soil to use to make the blocks; I used one from my Burpee book that seemed easy. I was glad that I’d seen another one that suggested to screen the compost & peat to 1/4″, because I did that, and I think it helped. I got quite a few of the larger chunks out that way. I had done some reading and found that it will be good to water them from the bottom, but that it’s important not to let them get to soggy by draining off the excess. I was planning ahead and wondering how to do that, and thought I’d need a smaller size tray that I could lift when full of dirt. I got to thinking I could use the aluminum trays they make for cakes & lasagnas. While I was searching at the store for just the right size, I saw some with holes on the bottom that were designed to grill vegetables on an outdoor grill. I got to thinking that with the holes, I
could easily lift out the pan to drain them after they’ve soaked a bit. These pans were more expensive, and I couldn’t find another one just the right size to lay them in while soaking. Then I noticed that there were cake pans with plastic lids, and a set of two pans with two lids were cheaper than the set of two of the pans with no lids. So, I thought I’d drill the holes myself, as you can see. I’ll set the pan inside the lid to water, then lift it out of the plastic lid before it
gets too soggy. The pans easily hold 20 cubes, maybe 24 if I squeeze really tight, but I haven’t tried that yet.
It was fun to make the blocks! The recipes suggested adding enough water to make them mud pie consistency. It wasn’t quite my idea of mud pies, but they seem to be holding together. I jammed the block maker into the stuff 2-3 times “charging the blocker”, then packed it in as tight as I could with my hands until there was some water seeping out before ejecting the blocks. I started 4 pans of 20 cubes today, and plan to do more tomorrow and next week. I’m at about 7 weeks to our last average frost date, and many of the seeds suggest 6-8 weeks before (those I planted today) or 6 weeks before the last frost. My challenge will be where to put them all until they go outside, so I’m being more conservative as to how many of each thing I start. For some plants I’ll start a few indoors, and save more seeds to be seeded directly outside to stagger the harvest. We plan to create another grow light bench this weekend, but it will still be tight!
I like the soil blocker idea! Now I’m sorry I started so many seedlings without it, but it was backordered from England, and I just received it. Next year I’ll be able to do them all with the blockers, if I still like this program through the entire process. Already I’m thinking that the 4″ blocker with the 2″ indentation would be a good idea for these seedlings when they need more space.
Tim got parts for the tractor, fixed it, and is at it again digging. Now he’s creating a drainage & walking path in the low spot, the center of our yard. The water will go out to pasture from there, if we get a big rain storm. We’re leaving some sloped areas for things that would appreciate the drainage, like strawberries, squash & melons. Tim has one more terraced area to shore up, then we’ll do some more lasagna beds to prepare for planting even though it’s getting a bit late in the season. We’ll just have to amend them if they aren’t “cooked” in time.
