Podcast: Play in new window | Download
I finally did it. Sort of. For a while now I’ve been wanting to start a podcast–for those unfamiliar with the term, basically a downloadable internet broadcast–about farming. I’ve been…wait for it…ruminating on how the show would work for a long time, but finding the time to put it together has been challenging. Challenging enough, in fact, that this first episode is just a shell of what I’d like the show to be. This episode has just one lonely segment in it. But it’s the segment I’m most excited about, in which I’ll talk to experts on various farming and gardening skills about the skill in question. Usually, I’ll also include a novice who has had one or two seasons’ experience with the skill.
In this first episode, I speak with Jason Beam, founder of pottingblocks.com, on the topic of potting blocks–the practice of starting seeds without plastic pots by creating dense, free-standing blocks of soil. Potting blocks have a number of purported advantages: seedlings don’t become root-bound, they experience less transplant shock, and don’t result in having to throw out plastic trays when they wear out. Vanessa and I used potting blocks in our market garden for the first time last season, and in my interview with Jason I ask him about some of the challenges we experienced as we went along.
It’s a long interview: almost an hour. So below I’ve listed a few topics covered in the interview and where to skip to to find them. I hope you enjoy the recording. And hopefully I’ll have another one soon.
5:20 What are potting blocks?
8:14 Making the right potting mix
17:49 Fertilizer considerations
22:44 Watering the potting mix
26:17 Spacing of blocks
28:09 Good Germination
36:18 Watering seedlings
46:15 Multiplant Blocks
52:23 Transplanting
57:40 Endorsements
You can stream or download the episode using the media player above. I should also be on iTunes after not too long.
Here’s hoping this becomes a regular thing (he says as farming season looms…)
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3 comments
Great first podcast Jordan, congrats! Good timing too, we might have to try out soil blocks this season.
I noticed soil block makers in the Lee Valley catalogue, and they suggest a block-in-block method to transfer successfully germinated micro-blocks to the larger size for further growth. Have you tried this method? What seeds do you think would benefit from the more involved two step method?
http://www.leevalley.com/US/garden/page.aspx?p=69004&cat=2,47236
Looking forward to hearing more podcasts.
Thanks Mike. The ‘block-in-block’ method you speak of is the potting block version of potting on, and allows you to start your seeds in smaller sized, space-saving blocks until they become large enough to ‘pot-on’ into larger blocks. This is especially useful if you don’t have much heat-mat space. We do this in our nursery. We start many seeds–tomatoes, slow-germinating herbs, brassicas–in tiny, 3/4″ blocks and then pot them on into 2″ blocks. The tomatoes are eventually potted-on again into 4″ blocks. It has worked really well for us. Regarding the 3/4″ blocks though: you really need to watch them closely to make sure they don’t dry out, which they can do really quickly on a heat mat.
Hi Mike and Jordan. Just to let all your readers know, we have the same Soil Blockers as Lee Valley at lower prices shipped directly to Canada. Please see Soil cube mold or Soil block mold and Soil block mold + cube inserts or Soil cube + block mold set