This year I am trying a new method of planting seeds indoors called soil blocks. I read about this method in a book called “The New Organic Grower” which I enjoyed very much and would recommend reading. I show you how to make soil blocks and share with you some of my experience doing it. Hope you enjoy. I have posted the soil block recipe below or you can click this link for a PDF.

BLOCKING MIX RECIPE *

A standard 10-quart bucket is the unit of measurement for the bulk ingredients. A standard cup measure is used for the supplementary ingredients. This recipe makes approximately 2 bushels of mix. Follow the steps in the order given.

-3 buckets brown peat (standard peat moss, use a premium grade)

-1⁄2 cup lime.

Mix ingredients together thoroughly.

2 buckets coarse sand or perlite

3 cups base fertilizer (equal part mix blood meal, colloidal phosphate, and greensand).

Mix. 1 bucket garden soil

2 buckets well-decomposed compost.

Mix ingredients together thoroughly.

Moisten the mix thoroughly using one part warm water for every three parts blocking mix. Successful soil block making depends on the mix being wet enough, rather than wet like soil mix in traditional flats. The mix should have the consistency of soft putty or wet cement, so that a small amount of water oozes through small openings in the blocker as the blocks are made, and that the individual soil blocks cling to the blocker without falling out prematurely.

* From The New Organic Grower, by Eliot Coleman.