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Re: seed planting

Chris,

>can a garden dirt and horse manure be used as a starter soil for seeds

Under most circumstances both manures and added inorganic fertilisers
will burn your seedlings to kingdom come. Likewise too great a
concentration of nutrients can inhibit actual germination in some
cases. We grow almost everything from seed that possibly can be grown
from seed here and in my experience a light, aerated, moisture
retentive compost (a proprietary seedling compost is fine for this)
does the job nicely. If you are sowing in trays for pricking out,
little or no nutrients in the sowing medium will be required as the
seeds themselves carry sufficient stores to "get them up" into the
2-leaf stage ready for pricking out. If you're planning to grow the
seedlings on for a while in the modules they were sown in, then a
modest source of nutrients in the compost will obviously be
necessary. Seedling composts usually cater adequately for this in
their mixtures. Alternatively you can of course "roll your own" by
creating your own mixtures to suit your preferred crops and the local
conditions the seedlings will eventually have to establish themselves
in.

Most good books on Plant Propagation should give you a few "recipes"
to mix your own, but if you'd like one I have here, let me know and
I'll post it up next time round.

Hope this helps.


Rgds,

Richard    Herefordshire (UK) HR9 5ZA
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