On Apr 29, 8:15 am, Charlie wrote:
On Sun, 27 Apr 2008 17:03:31 -0400, Bill wrote:
How about taking SOME of our seeds and plant directly close to time
appropriate . Names make us feel like we know what is what .Still the
ones in my compost seem to ignore false starts and grow because it is
their nature. I hope this sheds light on why do we may or may not need
potting soil.
I like to start things in my cold frame but maybe it is my ego.

Heavy duty questions no answers just on going experiments.

Life is lots of questions and few answers, eh? And the ego is a bit
problematic for sure.

This exchange keeps bringing me back to the method you once related
about the guy that broadcast mixed seeds in a large area and worked
them in. Kinda like walking thru a living farmers market when hungry.

I am going to try directseeding some tomatoes and hope for the best.
If one is counting upon beefsteaks and gets cherries,
though.........;-)

In the 80's, I taught a graduate course in ecology in the Puget Sound
region. One of the field trips we took was to Fr. Lewis. Their
sewage treatment was state of the art, for a number of reasons. They
also had a HUGE covered sludge drying bed. The sludge would dry into
"concrete", but the public was allowed to come in and grind up blocks
of it in provided hand-cranked grinders and take as much as they
wanted for fertilizer.
A side effect was "easter egg" tomatoes -- you never knew what you
would get, but you always got some.

cheers

oz, who once got smallish, pear shaped, yellow tomatoes from using
that stuff.