The leeks and onions aren’t doing so well. They started off great, sprouting in 2 days, but since then they haven’t done much. It’s been 2 weeks since they were planted… they should be about ready to go in the ground! Only one seed has grown to ~2 inches. The rest still look like sprouts. i may have let the soil get too dry and maybe then too hard for the roots to penetrate. The soil looked dark and moist, but it felt hard. So, instead of spritzing them from the top, I poured a bunch (probably a quart or so) of water into the bottom and they soaked it up! I also decided to put a pinch of peat on the seeds to give them a little cover… the sprouts looked too exposed… We’ll see how they do.

I seeded the onions and leeks today. According to my calendar, yesterday afternoon through Saturday the moon is in Virgo and it is a good time for planting/seeding/transplanting rooting crops. I have two different kinds of onions: Copra and Red Bull. For each kind I planted 5 seeds in each 2″ soil block. I will thin them to 4 seedlings and then plant the blocks 12 inches apart in 12 inch rows in the garden. Onions and leeks grow well in bunches like this and take up the same amount of room in the garden as if you had planted them in individual block, but take less seedling block space (so instead of having 160 soil blocks with one seedling each, I only have 40 seedling blocks with 4 seedlings each, and will produce the same amount of onions.) The leeks (King Sieg) will be planted 4 seeds per 2″ soil block and planted in the garden 8″ apart in 16″ rows.

LizzyLaneFarm asked about watering the soil blocks…. they are made extremely moist and hold water very well. They also have a high peat percentage so they don’t fall apart easily. I will put the seeds in the indentation and the book recommends not even covering them. I’ll simply mist them occasionally to keep them moist. This is my first year using the block maker and soil recipe, so we’ll see how it goes. My brother-in-law has used this recipe before and said he doesn’t have to water them much because they hold so much moisture.

We made some soil blocks today in preparation for seeding our onions and leeks.
I used the soil block recipe from Eliot Coleman’s The New Organic Grower book, and did decide to buy a 2″ soil block maker from The Peddler’s Wagon. We mixed up the soil in a large rubbermade tub. I will have more than enough seedling mix, but we’ll only use what we need as we go along.

Today, my friend Heidi helped me with the blocks (my energy is running low and I’m not moving around too well so it is really nice to have the help!). We mixed about 2 1/2 parts soil with one part water and then pressed the block maker in nice and snug.

Then we pushed the blocks out into little trays that we made. These trays were used to carry the plugs that went into the roof. We lined one with plastic then put another one on top to hold the plastic in and keep the seedlings from sitting in the water. (Does that make sense?)

I’ll seed these with Onion and leek seeds on Wed. afternoon or Thursday, when the moon is in Virgo, an earth sign, and good for starting root crops.

For now, the blocks are in their ‘green house’ that Toby made for me. He made a long shelf to fit in our biggest window and I’ve wrapped it in plastic to keep moisture and warmth in. I think it will work well. We’ll have to move the dining table somewhere so that I can get to the seedlings… but for now, here it is: