Compost

[Arnie]

Hi Everyone,

Might I ask this, What did gardeners use for seed sowing before we started using peat based compost. and is there some sort of formula available listing what to use.

Regards

Kevin

[peter]

Soil based John Innes compost, ratio of soil, sand and peat with John Innes powder.
Prior to peat I'm guessing it would've been leaf mould in that?

[tigerburnie]

My dad made his own compost from kitchen scraps and added leaf mould in the 1950's, bone meal was added to some mixes and wood ash was also used. Moss was also used for some planting, but I can't remember what. Mole hills were also gathered along with horse much collected off the road after the rag and bone man had been round on his cart.

[robo]

I remember my mother in law following a police horse around a field that backed on to her house ,it was an open day with races ,stalls , and a bar there was a big police presence as the year before ended in a big fight but there was my dear mother in law bucket and shovel in hand scooping every bit up

[Primrose]

I can vaguely remember my dad and my grandfather just using ordinary garden soil finely sieved with the addition of tea leaves mixed in (No teabags in those days)and possibly a few dried grass cuttings. They both kept a ash heap from garden bonfires which was sprinkled around seedlings once they’d been planted out but it was probably all very unscientifically done.
Droppings from the rag and bone man,s horse were always eagerly snatched up to sprinkle on the rose beds

[Geoff]

I started a thread quite a long time ago that created a limited discussion viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9514&hilit=home+made

[PLUMPUDDING]

Dad always collected mole hills and added sand as far as I can remember but there may have been other mystery additions.

[robo]

Hi Geoff, quite a bit of reading on your original post but very interesting ,I tried to make my own seed compost earlier this year but nothing grew I think it was to strong with compost and burned all the seeds but it did look good

[Geoff]

I confess I used 100% peat seed compost this year with excellent results though I still make soil/leafmould/sand potting mixes.

[tigerburnie]

Seed compost doesn't need any nutrients, it's the potting compost that needs the goodness, there's all the food the plant needs in the seed for it to germinate. However if you're like me I use a multi purpose so I don't need to be too exact in the potting on as the compost is slightly enriched.

[Arnie]

Sorry about the delay in replying but not enough hours at the moment thank you for all your replies and I do remember geoffs posting from a couple of years back, and I will need to refresh myself with all his efforts on this matter.

Kind Regards

Kevin

[bigal]

l used to help my father in the garden and the allotments during the war. Most seeds were sown straight into the soil where they were to grow. Brasicas were in short rows for transplanting later, and were often shared with other allotment holders. To get a good tilth he had an old border fork with the tines bent at right angles half way down their length. He would walk up a row loosening the soil as he went,but treading it down as he moved. Then he would lightly rake it over and always ended up with a beautiful tilth ready for the seeds even though the soil was quite hard.In those day you bought seeds in part of ounces or the larger one in pints. l dread to think what they would cost now at that rate.

[oldherbaceous]

Good first post Bigal, please keep them coming.

[Shallot Man]

bigal. Brought back memories. we too use to sow straight into the soil.

[Primrose]

Yes, a whole industry has now grown up around potting compost, pots of various kinds,, seed trays and propagators, not to mention gardening magazines telling you how to do it!
,
I must be ancient. I can remember the days before garden centres existed. You just bought a very limited selection of seeds from a seed merchant and there were nowhere near the number of varieties and choices you get today. The arrival of garden centres with their large selection of seed packets and trays of vegetable seedlings has probably encouraged a lot of people to “have a go” at growing their own vegs over the years whereas sowing seed outdoors and nurturing it to maturity would probably have been a step too far.

Mind you, garden centres are now transmorphing again into shopping centres. The one closest to us sells as much household “nick nackery”, clothing, greetings cards and expensive epicure foods as it does gardening produce. And don’t talk to me about Christmas decorations!!