support nursery work - wk 7

This morning we were in the glasshouse making mud pies! Well not really - rather we were making seedling cubes from a mixture of 2 parts sieved compost, 1 part worm castings and 1/2 part dolomite lime. Whenever you are working with any type of rock dust it is a good idea to use a mask to protect your airways and add it to the top of the mix as it is the heaviest substance and will mix much easier than if it is at the bottom.

Squeezing out my first lot of cubes!

Josie was fantastic at demonstrating how to mix this to the right consistency with water until it is basically a lovely claggy stodgy mix that will stick together nicely in the cube makers. My cooking skills  come in handy here to make sure it is thoroughly mixed through by hand (gloved of course!) A fair amount of force is then needed to pack the cube maker firm, about three passes sufficed. After a gentle touch easing them out into the trays it produced the most fantastic little grow cubes chock full of nutrients for a happy seed to make home in. I was initially concerned about the amount of compression needed to form the blocks, versus the amount of aeration needed for good plant growth, but Josie informs us that the airflow around the freestanding block is more than sufficient.

The finished cubes with the seed hole indent.

After this I head up to the nursery to check out some previously sewn broccoli seedlings into the blocks and the difference in the growth of these, versus ones sewn at the same time in a standard punnet mix, is amazing!! Obviously worth the extra effort of making up the mix.

The healthy growth of these Broccoli seedlings is impressive.

Later we prick out some Leek seedlings from a standard punnet and transplant them into the cubes. Josie  makes the point that this was probably not the ideal situation as the action of transplanting can break apart the cubes. Perhaps far better to start the leek seeds in the blocks first. However we are all very careful and do a great job in the end. Only thing left to do was a thorough cleanup to get everything tip top in the glasshouse again ready for next time.