Anne wrote:
I will be starting to get my tender vegie seeds planted soon and was wondering
what sort of starting mixes you all use. The garden shop seems to use a mix
that is mostly peat moss. Do they add nutrients to the peat moss or fertilize
the seedling a lot to get such husky little plants? I have tried peat moss in
the past but found that it was either too wet or too difficult to get at the
right degree of dampness.

I have been using a 50/50 mix of compost and garden soil (sterilized in the
oven) and then add some vermiculite or perlite to keep it from packing too
much.

Thanks for your input

Anne

I've had pretty good luck with Miracle Grow potting soil. It is fairly
light, and seems to be a mixture of sphagnum moss, compost, and a little
perlite. Peter's Professional potting soil is better, but I havn't seen
it in several years.

I use the Miracle Grow stuff for seedlings. For very fine seeds, you
might have to sift if potting soil, or at least pick through it to get
the little sticks and lumps out.

When I transplant the seedlings up, I mix wet soggy composts with a
little perlite and enough dry potting soil or sphagnum moss to make it
crumbly and workable.

The garden centers get such husky little plants by having plenty of
light and controlled temperatures. They also may use growth inhibitors
on some of the ornamentals. I have stocky little tomato and pepper
plants indoors under lights right now, but they will get out of control
next month before I can set them out and the tomatoes will be tall and
spindly and probably blooming. I just plant tall tomatoes in a post
hole with the top few leaves sticking out. I don't even pull off the
lower leaves, I just bury them. You can plant really tall tomatoes in a
shallow trench with just the top sticking out and propped up a bit.

Best regards,
Bob

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