Just curious what methods people here have established for raising
seedlings of various types. It seems that in our garden, the odds of
something surviving from seed to a mature flowering plant are very low.

That is okay in the longer term because if it survives that long, the
self seeding cycle can have a chance to establish, however, it's a slow
terdious process for turning your garden from something that looks like
a mess of healthy feterlised weeds, to something that looks decent.

I'm thinking that the best way would be to raise the seedlings in a seed
tray then transplant them. For the moment I just filled the base with
potting mix, then added a thin layer of seed mix, along with the seeds
and 2mm of mix on top of that.

Unfortunately seed mix seems expensive and I can't find it in anything
more than 5 litre quantities. In the past (when I was a kid) we'd fill
the trays up completely with the seed mix. Though if I have a lot of
seeds to raise, that won't be efficient. It would still be nice to be
able to use some cheaper mix or produce my own. What have people done
in this regard? I've heard that fire ash can be good for raising seeds,
perhaps a bit of saw dust (assuming the wood isn't treated) and perhaps
some of the raw ingrediants that they add to the seed mix? Perhaps I
could source some of our finest compost as well?

Also how important is it to space the seeds apart? Or should they just
be scattered and then separated as they are more mature and ready for
planting?

How about watering and feeding? I have a little trigger sprayer that
cost 73 cents at kmart, though if I do this more often I think I may
need a pressure sprayer. Once they sprout, what do I feed them with?

(In this instance I am sowing Alyssums).

Any advice appreciated,

Jeremy

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Jeremy Lunn
Melbourne, Australia
Homepage: http://www.austux.net/
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