Reading all this soil stuff to day had me thinking any one tried starting seedlings in the Napa stuff or any thing like that to get the Veg started before putting them out ?
I'm talking tomatos broccoli some herbs stuff like this...
Any insight?
Have you learned nothing from the soil wars on this site? You must use Boone's Mix! Both for the starts and the garden. Buy Pumice, Lava and Akadama by the pallets to save and you could probably keep costs below $50,000.
Obviously Joking...
Different veggies like different treatment.
For instance- squash are pretty tough generally and LOVE a lot of compost. They can be started in a potting mix and moved to a mound in the garden with success, but there is really no need, just wait until temps are above freezing at night and you oughta be Ok planting straight in the ground.
Carrots are a little more tricky and like a faster draining more open/ fine Sandy mix. They do not react well to transplanting at all. I would never recommend starting them somewhere and moving to the garden.
Collards/cabbage/ broccoli... Do fine as starts in pots and being moved, but make sure you leave them enough room between each plant to mature.. They like cooler temps, so these would be good ones to start early.
Beans/ peas detest the cold. Start them later, should be fine to start opin a pot and transplant just be careful! They are not the most robust of plants when young...
I dot not personally like tomatoes much, nor does my wife so I do not normally grow them... But my Mom did when we were kids, and I know enough to tell you they can be grown as starts in a lotus ing potting soil, and transplanted to the ground. They do fine in large pots for their whole life cycle if you wish. So do most herbs...
As far as a potting mix, again I would vary by plant... Though 50% perlite or Napa Oil Dry seems a bit on the "open" and sterile side for what most veggies want and need beyond being tiny seedlings- that being WATER and NUTRIENTS and lots of both! If you are only going to keep them in pots a week or two, that would be fine but... What's the pint of that? If you are trying to beat Mother Nature and really get a start on Spring, use larger pots, with good rich soil, let the plants grow as big as they can in the pots and out them out when it gets warm enough... But keep in mind whether starting seeds indoors and loving early or whether letting them grow before moving them out, the sun is much stronger than you may realize and a leaf grown under artificial light or indoor conditions is probably going to crisp up and die under the real sun... Some protection may be needed.
