Playing in the Mud

Remember when you were a kid and got to play in the mud? It was that kind of day today. I got to play with my new toy - my soil blocker. I debated endlessly with myself over whether to buy one or not and if I did, what size it ought to be. For those that have no clue as to what I'm talking about suffice it to say that it makes blocks of soil that you use in place of a pot. I bought it as a means to keep from buying all those plastic six packs and tossing them when they started getting ripped.

I figured the most useful size for me was the uncommon 1 1/2" size which is called the Mini 5 Blocker because it makes 5 little soil blocks. Most people go with two at the beginning - the 3/4" and the 2". You start all your seeds in the 3/4" block and then plop the the 3/4" block right inside the 2" block when you want to pot up. Which saves a lot of space with the new starts under the lights, but as they all go into the 2" eventually it adds up. 1 1/2" is smaller and I have extremely limited light space. Most of my plants only stay inside about 4 weeks. The 1 1/2" size ought to cover that. The others I'll have to pot up into larger pots or make myself someway to make larger blocks. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

I bought them and the soil mix I'm using from Fedco. They seemed to have reasonable prices. I liked their mix of potting soil - Fort V, so I didn't mix up my own. It is made with lots of compost and is organic. Hopefully it drains well enough. I ought to add sand to it, but I didn't. I'll find out soon enough if all my seedlings rot out instead of growing.

I took a small bit of the mix. I only needed to make a couple of rows of blocks. All the advice says add water until you can just squeeze water out of the mix. So I did. Then I took my soil blocker and plunged it down into the wet soil. The first blocks didn't quite come out right. Some fell apart. Some didn't have enough soil at the top and had gaps. All these mistakes got tossed back into the mix to try again. I played around a little. Some say you need to dunk the blocker in water between each set of blocks or the soil will stick. I tried it both ways. Not much sticking either way. I eventually got tired of playing and made some nice nice blocks that were totally filled out and held together.

I can see a need for a tool that is thin and as wide as the blocks, like a giant pair of tweezers. That way I could move them around if I wanted. As it was I just picked them up carefully with my fingers and put them where I wanted, which was two plastic trays that fit six blocks each. Then I put the lids on so they could germinate. One tray was for my bunching onions, Nabechan. The other for my extra, extra early lettuces, Red Sails, Mervielle de Quatre Saisons, and New Red Fire. So I have just two of each of the lettuce types started. I'll start lettuce every 2-3 weeks throughout the growing season, so there is no reason to start more than this. Two heads a week is probably more than sufficent to feed me.