On 13/04/2012 13:51, David WE Roberts wrote:
Two things:

I set out looking for seed sowing compost at the sheds, and the best
they did was a JI No. 1 which seems to be for cuttings, or a very small
bag of compost for seeds but nothing in bulk.

So I took the pragmatic decision to use GroBag compost.

Most stuff so far seems to be germinating, but not the tomatoes.

So is it necessary to have a particularly fine compost for tomato seeds,
or am I just unlucky with my seeds - T&M Ildi and Mr. Fothergill's
Principe Borghese?

Is there anywhere (national chain) which sells seed compost?
Or is JI No. 1 adequate?

I can't remeber having these problems in the past, but it is a good few
years since I grew tomatoes from seed.


I just sow them into multi-purpose compost, and have done for over 30
years without problems. Put the compost in a tray, moisten it and gently
press the seeds in. Cover with about quarter of an inch the compost, put
a sheet of newspaper on top and place the whole lot in a plastic bag and
put it somewhere like the airing cupboard. Doing that, mine always
germinate very quickly.