Lmst

Garden and greenhouse work this afternoon. Some Paul Robeson tomatoes are sprouting and more of the Matt’s (Elena’s) WildCherry tomatoes. Even the little water melons (Chou chieh reds). A relief after after having to restart them from scratch after wind knocked over the shelves dumping the prior starts in soil blocks into a mess the week before.
#garden #gardening #soilblocks #greenhouse #grow4comunity

@Pollinators This photo from last year illustrates what I do to “pot on” larger plants from soil blocks. I just add more soil block mix to the outsides into a rough elongated ball shape.
#SoilBlocks #Gardening #GrowYourOwn

Tomato plants growing in trays on a windowsill. To reduce the use of plastic plant pots the plants are all growing out of soil mounds of a soil block potting mix. This picture was taken in spring last year.

@Broadfork Thank you and Ernie. We are going to make soil blocks for the first time after seeing them in action on Mastodon. The peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes starts will be our test vegetables. We have the ingredients. Though the leaf mould is not well aged. And the compost was frozen wedges. We are looking forward to the less stress potting up. #soilblocks, #gardening, #growyourow, #compost.

@Broadfork Congratulation on the 2025 spring gardening milestone of soil blocks! Can you share your starter mix recipe? Ernie is happy. This is his happy face. #gardening, #growyourown, #soilblocks.

The greenhouse full of soil blocks. It’s sow time. #GrowYourOwn #SeedStarting #SoilBlocks #GreenManures #Gardening #Allotment

An unheated greenhouse with plastic propagator trays covering a bench down one side and shelf units at the end and other side. The trays are full of soil blocks. Some have been sown, most will have smaller seed blocks transplanted into them when their seeds have germinated from warmer propagation indoors. Green manures of ryegrass and broad beans cover the greenhouse beds. Some over wintering crops are still to be harvested. Komatsuna are growing nearest the door. A brindle boxer dog is sitting inside the greenhouse looking slightly bored with the gardening antics.

@janisarmstrong Ha! The world really is upside down if that happens.

I’ll likely make some trays or repurpose them from some other material.

This useful clip from Blossom and Branch has a few good seed starting options.

She uses fibreglass trays for her soil blocks which are light while having the right strength and stability. #SoilBlocks #SeedStarting #Sustainability
https://youtu.be/f8NVUmCb87s?si=cMmBSbcBpeRaHCGC

@claralistensprechen3rd @Pollinators The worm castings hold together pretty well with the other ingredients. I do sieve out any larger bits or debris that’s fallen in during harvesting.

I make soil blocks to cut down on plastic use. This also air prunes the roots so they are ready to really grow after transplanting.

Soil block grown plants don’t seem to suffer badly with transplant shock. #SoilBlocks #WormCastings

Hello #gardening friends, I have a product review (I guess two reviews) for y’all!
I decided to try #soilBlocks this year, and I got the nice metal 3/4” and 1.5” blockers from Johnnys. They’ve worked very well for me.
But the largest size, the one you transplant your 1.5” blocks into, was three times the cost of the medium one!
So when I saw this Fiskars soil blocker for less than $20, I decided to try it out. Verdict: it sucks, especially for up-potting seedlings. I was able to make decent blocks, but there’s only a tiny seed hole at the top. I had to scoop each block out like a pumpkin to wedge the square transplants in, and by that point it was just a mound of nice mud. This tray is mostly flowers which can go out any time they’re big enough, but there’s no way I’m going to put my tomatoes in communal dirt blobs 😅
TLDR: Just keep using your 4” pots.
Link to Johnnys: https://www.johnnyseeds.com/tools-supplies/seed-starting-supplies/soil-blocking/
Link to Fiskars: https://www.fiskars.com/en-us/gardening-and-yard-care/products/food-gardening/soil-block-maker-340120-1001

Looking down into a grow tent with several flats of seedlings. On the left, already-hardened young flowers in 4” pots are just waiting for some new pots to fill in their tray before they go back outside. In the center, a tray of seedlings in 1.5” soil blocks, but half of them have been transplanted over to the rightmost tray. It’s filled with what started as tall, narrow soil blocks that have slumped into mud balls from the transplant process.

The tray of 1.5” cubes is several weeks old but the divisions between blocks are still crisp.

Autocorrect keeps fixing “tray” to “trash” and there’s a reason. The tray of Fiskars lumps looks about as fused together as a tray of cinnamon rolls.

Alright, round two of indoor babies is cooking! Round one was all flowers, and I learned two lessons already. Fill up the tray with tightly packed soil blocks - the one I made with just a few sets of blocks dried out way too fast. And the popsicle sticks are gonna fall over, so this time I wrote grid positions on the labels too!
And I don’t mean to cheat anyone of the fun of peeping at others’ tomato choices - I’m going with these six, names and retailers in alt text.
#gardening #soilBlocks #seedStarting

Looking inside a small indoor grow tent. In the foreground, a 1020 tray has 48 soil blocks with popsicle stick labels. Behind, there’s another 1020 tray with two 4x6” trays. The heating mat and temp probe for this tray are just visible.

The tomato seed packets: “Afghan” “Carbon” and “Northern Ruby” from Uprising Seeds, “Paul Robeson” from Adaptive Seeds, “Oregon Star” from Territorial, and the only returning variety from last year, Johnny’s “Striped German.”

planting hot peppers seeds

Poblano peppers at 1000 SHU
4 types of jalapeno at 2500-5000 SHU
Hot Hungarian wax pepper at 10K-15K SHU
cayenne pepper at 30K-50K SHU
Datil habanero pepper at 100K-300K SHU
AND Red Savina habanero at 250K-550K SHU
#yeg #edmonton #alberta #soilblocks #seeds #seedlings #growing #zone3 #zone4 #hot #peppers #hotpepper #poblano #habanero #cayenne #Hungarian #wax #jalapino #sriracha #lemon #spice #pumpkinspice #peppergate #gardeners #garden
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2WM72DLxLC/?igsh=cDJnMmthY2lzZzdq

planting artichoke seeds in soil blocks
#garden #gardeners #yeg #edmonton #zone3 #zone4 #growing #seedlings #seeds #soilblocks
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C17R4rMr9rd/?igsh=MTR3dG9mcmp2MjdobA==

starting begonia plants from seeds
#flowers #soilblocks #seeds #seedlings #growing #yeg #edmonton #zone3 #zone4 #garden #gardeners
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1533yRrFlZ/?igsh=NjU2b3pkMDBvcHZs

Planting orange milkweed from seeds using soil blocks and cold stratification#gardners #garden #Zone3 #zone4 #edmonton #yeg #growing #seeds #seedlings #soilblocks #cold #stratification #coldstratification #fridge #tupperware #containers #flowers
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C12Gy-rxlSS/?igsh=MXg4Y2FqdzF2NXg4OQ==

Planting rosemary seed pellets in soil blocks
#soilblocks #seedlings #seeds #growing #yeg #edmonton #zone4 #Zone3 #garden #gardners #herb #rosemary
Don't forget to follow me on TikTok links in bio
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C10tJuIrmjj/?igsh=MTFqYmtiNHc0cTdyMw==

this is my soil mix for soil blocks. been using the same mix for 3 years now. work amazing
I use 5 gallon buckets so you can adjust the recipe according to the amount you need.
#gardners #garden #edmonton #yeg #growing #seeds #seedlings #soil #soilmix #soilblocks
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C10CugMyxDs/?igsh=MWo0bjV1cDdvZXJybA==

I wish I had done more research before I ordered a #SeedStarting mix with peat… I have made Eliot Coleman’s recipe for soil blocks in the past, but I don’t need a ton as I’m just getting back to #gardening after many years. I will have to try this peat-free recipe made with coconut coir for my #SoilBlocks.

soil blocking how-to part 2: peat-free recipe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZP0wpPdkrc

9 days later we have signs of life from the Good King Henry soil block experiment. I was under the impression these would take a long time to germinate so now I regret starting these so early!

#soilblocks #goodkinghenry #seedstarting

#soilblocks

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