Author Archives: Melissa | Growing Green Nutrition

Using soil blocks to start seeds

Guest post by Matthew, AKA Farmer Brown
I’ve been using soil blocks to start seeds for the garden for a few years now.  I started with the affordable one that makes four 2”x 2” blocks, and later added the mini and a new five 1.5”x1.5” (after they decompress) blocker.
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I really like the 2” blocks, and I think the 1.5” one has potential, but I don’t think the mini is worth the bother, especially since my heating box space is not too precious, since I built it large enough for two flats at a time (three if I’m not worried about light).

Pros: Growing with soil blocks in trays leads to way less to sterilize than cell packs, plus easier to transplant and easier on roots than just growing in flats.  Also, despite reusing the cell packs, the flimsy plastic cracks after a few uses, so soil blocking = less plastic waste.

Cons: uses more soil than cell packs, because they require packed soil.

For seed starting soil, I’m currently using Pro-Mix, which comes in a compressed 3.8 cu ft block.  I’ve used a couple of other potting soils, and I’ve seen recipes for making your own.  I use this mostly because it’s affordable, and available easily near me, but I think most any general purpose seed starting/potting soil would work.  I’d prefer to make my own using coconut fiber instead of the peat, but practicalities of time lead me to compromises.

Materials
Soil blocker (a cookie cutter for soil)
Potting soil (bought or home-made)
Seeds
Flats (or trays) – sterilized with chlorine bleach solution if re-using and especially if found
A flat bottom container for the wet soil

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Using the soil blocker

1.       Moisten some soil the night before, with the goal of very wet but not soupy soil.

2.       Take the soil blocker and push down firmly into the soil.  I generally really pack it in.

3.       Twist the blocker right and left a bit to loosen the soil in the container from that in the blocker

4.       Tip the blocker slightly to release any liquid seal/suction and then pick it up

5.       Set it down on the tray and then

a.      Push down on both the blocker and the handle on the top of the blocker

b.      Gently allow the bottom half of the blocker to come upward as you keep pushing down on the handle

c.       Tip the blocker slightly to release suction

d.      Lift the blocker (leaving soil blocks behind)

e.      Repeat

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This seems complicated, but it really is rather simple and fast once you have the hang of it.  I think it may be a bit faster, and is certainly more pleasant, than sterilizing cell packs for reuse.

Once I’ve completed a whole tray of soil blocks, I start seeding, either in the dimples, or on the surface depending on the seed.  I use a bit more of the moistened soil to fill the dimples and cover the seed (unless it’s something that needs light to germinate).

To Water:  I used to spray the blocks carefully with a mister, but now  I just use a watering can that gives a fairly gentle shower.  It does destroy the pretty, orderly look of the blocks, but they hold together enough that it’s still easy to separate the blocks for planting.

I do still grow onions in flats, and I grow my artichokes in cell packs so I can vernalize them, but for most of my other indoor seed starting soil blocks are my method of choice.

Upgrading and jump-starting

‘Twas quite a busy weekend, all told.  We kicked things off with a great “Truth and Techniques of Traffic Cycling” class on Saturday morning.  I’m looking forward to teaching the full course (classroom plus on-bike sessions “Train Your Bike” and “Tour of St. Louis”) in May.

Thirty minutes before the end of the [highly computer dependent due to animations and video] class, our laptop conked out.  Fortunately, Matthew quickly got the onsite computer up and running so we could finish the course.

Coincidentally enough, our preplanned post-teaching errands involved a stop to pick up the new laptop we ordered earlier in the week.  We knew we were on borrowed time with [what is now] our old laptop, but we didn’t think we were cutting it quite that close!

The old guy dates to about this time of year in 2004, and nine years old is very old for a laptop.  Matthew’s been nursing it along for the last few years, but the time had clearly arrived.

So, I’m blogging from our new computer, which has a few to many bells and whistles, including the Windows 8, “I’m pretending to be a tablet,” operating system, but I’m getting used to that, and I certainly don’t mind the increased speed and reliability.

I’m not sure that we bought the “greenest” machine out there, but if we can go another nine years before upgrading, that in itself will go a long way toward lessening our “electronic stuff” footprint.

Speaking of things conking out, on Monday morning, after wrangling Gabriel into his car seat for the drive to Baba’s, I turned the key in the ignition only to hear a sad little clicking sound.  I sat there frustrated, waiting for help to arrive, watching the precious minutes of my one day a week that I have to myself tick away, annoyed to be so beholden to a stupid car.

While I am thankful, I suppose, to have the option of a motor vehicle to use as needed, I don’t like feeling helpless and stranded when the littlest thing goes wrong.  The most regular use of the car for us these days is traveling to/from my in-laws’ in the suburbs, and, while I’m thankful they’re relatively close, how I wish they were walkable or bikeable.  Oh, how I wish!

Anyway, I called my MIL (Gabriel’s Baba) and arranged to switch driving directions.  Matthew pushed the car to a spot on the street where she would have room to pull up in front of us so we could attempt to jump-start the car.  After a brief internet tutorial in hooking up jumper cables (I’m glad I know how to do it now), we connected the cars, turned the key in our ignition, and, voila!  A running car!

Our car has stupidly designed, easy to accidentally bump and turn on, reading lights under the rear view mirror, and, as it turns out, one of them had been on since we returned from our errands on Saturday afternoon.  After over 36 hours sitting, our battery was, understandably, dead as a doornail.

Since Matthew was running late by that point, and we needed to run the engine for awhile anyway, I dropped him off at work.  He was torn on skipping what was probably the nicest biking weather all week, but, for this trip, driving IS faster than biking.  Anyway, not the best way to start the week, but I’m thankful it wasn’t a bigger issue, and that we can make many of our trips by bike or on foot!

Tastefully fueling active transportation

If you’ve really been paying attention, you may have noticed a change in this blog’s tagline last week, from “Normalizing green living,” to “Tastefully fueling active transportation.”

While I’ve been pondering a new blog title for months now (without coming to a conclusion), I settled on the new tagline almost immediately.  While there are many ways that I attempt to live “green,” replacing car trips with human-powered trips and eating a largely local (and homegrown) diet play a major role in my efforts.  Plus, I enjoy writing about said topics.

I chose “active transportation” instead of biking or cycling because, as much as I enjoy biking for transportation, walking is even simpler, and anything that gets you out of the car and moving under your own power works in my book.

The posts here have been skewed a bit toward the food side lately, but that doesn’t mean the biking and walking isn’t happening.  In many ways, biking somewhere doesn’t seem noteworthy to me — it’s just what I do.

That said, I plan to increase my bike-related posts, since I hope to encourage and inspire others to get out on two wheels (or three wheels, or two feet, or whatever works for you), and, despite the fact that I would like biking to be the norm, in this country, it simply isn’t, so there’s plenty of room for change.

Anyway, my hunt for a pithy blog title that captures the spirit of my writing may be put on indefinite hold, as I rather like the original title with the new tagline.  Happy reading, gardening, cooking, eating, and actively transporting yourself to a greener lifestyle!

Truth and Techniques of Traffic Cycling

In the “better late than never” category, just a quick note for all St. Louis readers that I am co-leading Truth and Techniques of Traffic Cycling, the classroom portion of the CyclingSavvy class series, this Saturday, February 16th.

The course (a $30 value) is FREE thanks to a grant from Great Rivers Greenway, and we have a few more seats to fill.  Registration is required; click here to register now.

If you can’t make it this Saturday, mark you calendar now for the class on Saturday, March 9th.

Whether you’re an expert cyclist who would like to feel a bit more confidant riding in traffic or a newbie just testing out your wheels, CyclingSavvy has something for you.  Don’t miss these great opportunities to expand your bicycling horizons!

Terrible twos?

Don’t let that sweet smile fool you . . .

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. . . this little guy’s been putting me through the wringer for the last five weeks.  We’re still some months away from the two year mark, but why be terrible for JUST a year, when instead you can be terrible for a year-and-a-HALF?

So, other than terrible, how is Sir these days?

Large and in charge, he’s right around the three foot mark, and he’d chunked up to the 81st percentile in weight at his 18-month visit.  He’s now over half my height and a quarter of my weight (good thing I’m hitting the weights at the gym!).

Given his height, we went ahead and switched his car seat to front facing, since the rear-facing height limit on the seat we have is 36 inches.

We’re also preparing to transition him to a real bed.  For over a year, the Pack ‘n Play served as his resting place (we never used it for “play”), but he’s more or less at the height and weight limits for the device.  He (knock on wood) hasn’t tried to climb out yet, so I’m delaying the transition a bit, hoping to smooth out some of our current sleep issues first (meanwhile, his new mattress is airing out in our basement, but more on that in another post).

He shows no signs of slowing on the growth front, continuing to eat vigorously and enthusiastically at meal and snack times, in addition to three short nursing sessions a day.

Three out of four of his two-year molars came in over the last few weeks, but as far as I can tell, that final tooth might be awhile yet.

He’s still not talking, and frustration with not being able to communicate what he wants may be part of the current behavior issue, though I think it’s more about frustration at not getting his way.

Speaking of not getting his way, my efforts to include him in the kitchen (more on that in a later post) worked a bit too well.  I thought I had a monster on my hands before, but that was nothing compared to the fact that now EVERY time I am in the kitchen, even if I’m only doing something that will take a few minutes, he must drag a chair in and be involved.  And if the answer is, “No, it’s not time for the chair to be in the kitchen,” much screamage ensues.

As it does many other times throughout the day when I thwart his very strong little will.  Sigh.

I know “this too shall pass,” but all-in-all, this phase is making working outside the home look VERY attractive again.