I have planted my first flats and tucked them into the warm, moist environment of the SunPod Signature. The journey towards light and spring has begun. There is excitement in the act of seeding and great anticipation of the flowers and food to come.

I mix my own seed-starting medium from organic components.
There are three main components to my organic seed starting mix. My focus is to make it light and highly drainable with the best organic ingredients I can find.

The first is worm castings. I use worm castings because they retain moisture, provide a non-burning food source for young seedlings and you can make it yourself at home with a vermiculture kit.

Next, I add Canadian peat or coconut coir for fibrous material, to hold the mix together and for airiness.
I also add sand for good drainage and to provide some weight to the mix.

It is also possible to buy organic pre mixed seed starting soil. These are often made with peat/coir and perlite/vermiculite and are sterilized for good seed health. The resulting seedlings, not having built in food, will need to be fed with a seaweed extract sooner than those grown in worm castings.

My recipe:

6 gallons of worm castings
2 gallons of fine peat or coir
2 gallons of fine sand

Mix well and fill your flats or containers.

Tamp down the surface of the soil
-Tamping down means to apply a small amount of pressure to the surface of the soil with a flat surface. Tamp the soil with your palms or use a piece of wood (the weight of which is enough) to achieve an even surface. . Do not actively push the soil down or apply too much pressure. A gently firmed surface provides the seeds with a stable surface to grow from and helps prevent the seeds from being dislodged when watered

Place the seeds on the surface of the soil and cover them. The general rule is to cover the seeds with soil equivalent to the thickness of the seed.

Seeds need bottom heat to grow at this time of year. Lights can also help growth if you are in an area of low winter light, like we are in the Pacific Northwest.

These are the first seeds I have sown:

Lettuce-Olga
Dill-Hercules
Early greens mix-gourmet salad
Beets-Merlin and bull’s blood
Snap peas-sugar ann
Chard-magenta sunset
Carrots-mignon

Dianthus-plumarius Sonata
Oriental Poppy-coral pink
Scabiosa-house novelties