For many years I've been playing with making my own seed starting and potting mixes for seedlings.
With
permaculture ethics in mind, I deciced not to use neither peat moss (destruction of wetlands) nor coco coir (imported from thousands miles away).
I was focusing on a
local resources on my
land, which is mostly sand, as well as on
compost.
A classic
permaculture recipe calls for "sharp river sand + sieved compost" mixed in various proportions (the smaller seeds, the more compost), but I was not successful at all using this recipe.
In some areas, people vouch for soil from mole mounds, since the mole made all the work for them - the soil in the mound is already "sieved" and since it comes from deeper layers of soil, it is also free of weed seeds. In my place however, it is mostly a pure sand, so not very useful.
In the end, I use currently almost pure compost coming from two sources - my fast, hot composting operation and leaf mold compost that takes years to finish, both sieved. I also add worm castings to the mix sometimes. It works well, but there is definitely a room for improvement here.
What is your favourite home made seed starting and potting mix recipe that contain only ingredients available in your garden or on your farm?
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