Planting, Transplanting & New Potting Soil Mix

New Potting Soil Mix

When I made potting soil the other day, I felt as if it had too much vermiculite. My thought was this may be because my vermiculite is much finer than used in the base recipe video.

Today’s mix:

• Three 2.5 gallon buckets of sifted cotton burr compost
• Two 2.5 gallon buckets of peat moss
• One 2.5 gallon bucket of vermiculite
• 1.5 cups Dr. Earth Home Grown Organic & Natural Tomato, Vegetable & Herb Fertilizer (4-6-3)
• Mix well
• Moisten thoroughly before using

I am liking this mixture better. Percentage-wise, it has more organic material, the percentage of peat moss is less (which is acidic and doesn’t really “break-down” over time), and now it seems  to have the right amount of firmness.

I used this mix in all of my new planting today – including seeds started in tray.

The previous mix seemed way too soft and crumbly. Even when wet, it was difficult to make if form a temporary “ball” when squeezed in my hand.

New Garden Planting

• Raised Bed
  • Sweet Corn Early Sunglow Hybrid, Burpee (back half of in-between spot in fence line raised bed) – Germination 7-14 days, days to Harvest 63
  • Top Notch Golden Wax Bean, MIgardener (mixed front half in-between spot in fence line raised bed) – G 4-6, M 50-60
  • Topcrop Bean, MIgardener (mixed front half in-between spot in fence line raised bed) – G 4-6, Days til Maturity 50-60
  • Rocket Arugula, Burpee Seed Tape (lettuce bin in fence line raised bed) – H 35
  • Baby’s Leaf Hybrid Spinach, Burpee Seed Tape (lettuce bin in fence line raised bed) – H 30 (extra early), 40 (for salads), + (for cooking)
  • Red Velvet Lettuce, Burpee Seed Tape (lettuce bin in fence line raised bed) – H 55
• Seed Starting Trays
  • All seeds started using today’s potting mix
  • In 2″ x 2″ x 2.25″ individual seed starter pots
  • Outdoors (on deck table) with humidity dome
  • 2 seeds per pot
  • Genovese Basil, Burpee – 5 Pots, G 7-14, H 60-90
  • Red Rubin Basil, Burpee – 10 P, G 7-14, H 60-90
  • Mammoth Basil, Burpee – 5 P, G 7-14, H 60-90
  • Lemon Cucumber, Burpee – 5 P, G 7-14, H 65 (planted in tray because I haven’t decided where to put it yet. Would have preferred to start in-ground)
  • Wapsipinicon Peach Tomato, MIgardener – 5 P, G 7-14, M 95
  • Cream Sausage Tomato, MIgardener – 5 P, G 7-14, M 80
• Containers
  • 15″ Diameter, 12″ Tall – Grayish Gold (In “sunny” spot on downstairs patio)
    • White Icicle Radish, MIgardener – Quantity of seeds ~30, G 3-5, M 27
    • Black Spanish Radish, MIgardener – Q ~30, G 3-5, M 30
    • Will transplant 42-day Tomato here after radishes
  • 18″ Diameter, 15.5″ Tall – Stone White (In “sunny” spot on downstairs patio)
    • Superior White Potatoes – Q 3 whole seed potatoes, H 75-90
    • Cylindra Beet – Q ~25, G 5-7, M 60
  • 18″ Diameter, 15.5″ Tall – Stone White (Master bed-side, gate-side)
    • White Icicle Radish, MIgardener – Quantity of seeds ~30, G 3-5, M 27
    • Black Spanish Radish, MIgardener – Q ~30, G 3-5, M 30
    • Cylindra Beet – Q ~25, G 5-7, M 60
  • 18″ Diameter, 15.5″ Tall – Stone White (Master bed-side, yard-side)
    • Top Notch Golden Wax Bean, MIgardener – Q ~15, G 4-6, M 50-60
    • Topcrop Bean, MIgardener – Q ~15, G 4-6, M 50-60
    • Black Spanish Radish, MIgardener – Q ~30, G 3-5, M 30
    • White Icicle Radish, MIgardener – Quantity of seeds ~30, G 3-5, M 27

Transplants

• • Into Garage-side Bed
    • Italian Oregano (MIgardener) – from failed coco coir liner basket experiment. Liner allowed way too much air to get to it and the soil dried out even the day after a rain. These were only ting sprouts. I simply pulled back the mulch (shredded cypress) in the bed, watered down the soil, scraped the top layer from the liner/basket with as many sprouts I could get, placed them in the bed, then watered them in, and brushed the mulch back into place
    • Thyme (Ferry-Morse Sow Easy) – from failed coco coir liner basket experiment. Same as above, except there were only a few sprouts at this time, mostly thin layer including unsprouted seed
    • Lemon Balm/Citronella Balm – 2 plants from brown clay pot. This pot had 3 plant “bunches” in it and became very crowded and root-bound very quickly
    • Cucumber – one plant was transplanted to the other end of the cucumber row. One plant has been lost and this one does not look well either. Two look great
  • Into Metal Pail on Deck
    • 3 Sweet Basil plants – from failed “mini compost core” experiment
    • 3 Purple Basil plants – from brown clay pot. Soil was too dense plants were wilting
  • Into Brown Clay Pot on Deck
    • Lemon Balm/Citronella Balm – 1 plant from brown clay pot described above. Also, I found out these are these are the exact same plant – Melissa officinalis
  • Into Other Brown Clay Pot on Deck
    • Stevia – from black plastic self-watering pot. Soil was too dense, as in brown clay pot above, but mainly transplanted to go into the better looking pot

Of course, I wish I would have planted most of this sooner – but I couldn’t start before I got interested and started learning, then I could only do so much each day.