Seed Starting Mix

Today I made up some seed starting soil in anticipation of my seeds arriving soon, and will also plant a few old seeds I already have on hand. 

The seed starting soil is easy to make and much better (and cheaper) than what you can buy. A 'part' measure can be a coffee can, a teacup, or a bucket... depending on how much you want/need:

3 parts peat

3 parts worm castings or vermicompost (nutrition)

1 part perlite (keeps soil loose for root growth)

½ part greensand (mineral nutrition)

Mix everything but the greensand together until well mixed, then add the greensand and incorporate as uniformly as possible. Dampen the mix before planting seeds. Peat is not very 'wettable' so you may have to over-saturate it and then let it drain/dry some before planting seeds.

So today, with some old seeds, I started French filet beans (hariciot verts), spinach (which I will continue to sow over 2 week intervals), and 4 kinds of heirloom tomato seeds, as I  await my 2011 my seed order.

Tomorrow I plan to plant 2 sweet potatoes to develop slips to plant. Wish me luck, because I've never tried this... and I hope my seed starter mat gets to the necessary temps!