I didn’t post anything last week, because I was in a seizure stretch. Thankfully, it was much milder than usual, but I’m never quite sure how bad it’ll be, so I took it easy. I stayed productive, but stayed away from screens and breakable/dangerous equipment, just to be on the safe side! All seems to be well now.

One of the tasks that I did manage to accomplish was a shopping trip for potting soil ingredients! My mom got a new soil recipe from Floret Farms and passed it along to me. The recipe is free, just click here, but they do require an email address. What a generous thing to share! They’ve put all sorts of trial and error into coming up with an excellent source for seed starting and keeping them fed for the weeks leading up to planting, and they decided to share it with other flower growers. I’m so grateful not to have to make all the same mistakes as some of these more seasoned farmers.

I recommend getting the recipe and relevant information from Erin at Floret Farms, as she’s the expert and includes extra info and links to products she recommends, but here’s a little tip from me, in case you run into the same problem I did.

The bag of soil that I got was 2.8 ft³, instead of 3.8 ft³, like the bag she recommended. I didn’t realize this at first, but noticed after I got home from the nursery, so I did some calculations and discovered that my bag was approximately 3/4 the size of hers, so by multiplying each of the numbers in her recipe by .75, I got the correct ratios to fit my soil-making needs. Yes, in my quantity, the numbers were a little wonky, but I could get them close by estimating with a regular set of measuring cups.

I gathered up all the materials in the necessary quantities, then decided I only wanted to mix up half a bag at a time, so I halved all those measurements and got the last column.

The following chart is the variation I made based on the size of my bag of soil:

	Floret Recipe	3/4 Batch	Half 2.8 ft³ Bag
Potting soil (ft³)	3.8	2.85	1.425
Compost (gallons)	5	3 3/4	1 7/8
Bonemeal (cups)	6	4 1/2	2 1/4
Kelp (cups)	3	2 1/4	1 1/8
Blood meal (cups)	2 1/4	1.69	0.84

I don’t have many blog readers at this time, so I don’t feel like I’m trying to scoop Floret Farm’s recipe; I hope this doesn’t come across that way! This blog is more a way for me to keep my own information and journey recorded, and hopefully others will glean some benefit from my experiences, learning, and mishaps, too.

Anyway, I couldn’t get my hands on the compost Floret Farms recommended, so I used a mixture of True Organic All Purpose Plant Food (which includes seabird guano, crab and shrimp shell meal, and poultry manure along with soybean meal) and Sta Green Earthworm Casings. I also used Sta Green Bonemeal and Sta Green Blood Meal, and Down to Earth Kelp Meal. I used Ball Professional Growing Mix which was recommended by my local nursery. Hopefully that will do the trick! I suppose time will tell.

In past years I’ve just used potting soil and my seedlings have always seemed quite healthy, so I’m looking forward to seeing whether, by comparison, this special mixture will be noticeably different. I hope so.

It’s a strange feeling, preparing for planting. Nerves, hope, excitement, wonder, organizing and reorganizing… I want to do everything right, so everything grows well this year, but there’s no way to predict what might happen. What if I mix something wrong and none of my seedlings make it to the garden at all? I know that’s extreme (plants are pretty resilient little guys), but the thought is heart wrenching. I want to know everything will be okay :). I also want to get going as soon as possible, but that’s the worst possible thing to do. Early certainly doesn’t equal better. All must be done in the right time! Patience…patience.

I really am excited to try out this new potting soil mixture. I planted yarrow and a couple varieties of black eyed Susans (Chim Chiminee and Sahara) and have them out in the greenhouse for cold stratification, but they won’t sprout until the weather warms up. Tomorrow I plan to start some snapdragons and get them on a heating mat for germination. I’m looking forward to seeing green!

Do you use or make a special potting soil for getting starts going? I’d love to learn new tricks and share ideas!

Happy Growing!