Renewing our soil

Question? As I planted my strawberries, they were surrounded with soil and cottage cheese like styrafoam stuff. I felt sick seeing all of this 'junk' going in my beautiful Mel's Mix. Other starter plants have added the same stuff into the garden soil. So, in the fall do add in more of Mel's complete mix, or do I just add manuer? It seems like the peat moss and vermiculite would outlast the compost.

I need to figure this out so that when I do a second planting in a box I know what to do.

My scallions came up and green, then the thin tiny tips went brown, and within two days they were dead! Is this the seeds?

I've also got corn planted in an entire box and only 1/2 of the seeds have come up. Is it my seeds? ?? I'm confused.

All of my other boxes are growing and doing well. Okay, the lettuce looks a little like the scallions. Too much water, not enough?

Squash is doing great, strawberries, raddishes, potatos, tomatoes, strawberries, etc. Just seem to be loosing the battle with the ones mentioned above. Anyone finding the same problems or have solutions?

bjwinterton wrote:
I've also got corn planted in an entire box and only 1/2 of the seeds have come up. Is it my seeds? ?? I'm confused.

I can only speak to the corn issue. Corn seeds prefer soil temperature at 60 degrees F and up for best germination and production. In a good summer, I'll have 95+ % germination rate. In a bad summer, I'll get less than 10% germination. Could it be your weather?

Corn doesn't transplant well, but, if you have some of the same seeds left, germinate them indoors to see what kind of germination rate you get. In warm temps, you should see close to 90% germination rate if your seeds are viable.

If you made your Mel's mix according to his recipe, you probably haven't over watered.

That's all I can think of to offer. I haven't had your experience with scallions.

bjwinterton wrote:Question? As I planted my strawberries, they were surrounded with soil and cottage cheese like styrafoam stuff.

Did it look something like this?
If it did, that is perlite, commonly used in horticulture soil mix. see here for info.

bjwinterton wrote: So, in the fall do add in more of Mel's complete mix, or do I just add manuer? It seems like the peat moss and vermiculite would outlast the compost.
I need to figure this out so that when I do a second planting in a box I know what to do.

Just add compost as it has the nutrients the second planting will need. The vermiculite and the peat moss should be holding their own just fine and won't need replacing or replenishing.

I nice little trick i learned for corn is to lett he Kernel soak in warm water over night then place them between some damp paper towels and put them in a warm spot keep the paper towels damp after about 3 or 4 days you will see a little tail on the viable seeds now youre ready to plant the seeds ive had a much better success rate doing this then just plunking a seed in the ground.

I dont do a whole lot with transplants from the nursery or store i grow most of my veggies from seed but the seeds that i do trasplant from indoor to outdoors seem to take better and faster if you trim the roots just a bit with a pair of sharp gardening sheers and i also tease the roots appart befor i plant them with a fork so instead of a ball clump the roots are kind of spread out a bit, you have to be very gentle when doing this or you can destroy the root system (found out the hardway). The only ones you wouldnt want to do this to are plants that are known to be finiky about their roots being disturbed (cucumbers melons zucchini)

Thanks, you have all given me perfect information! Thanks for the perlite photo and article -- took the fear our of what I was adding to mel's mix. I'm going to try soaking some seeds and then filling in the blanks spots. I might have planted the corn too early if heat is a factor. As far as my scallions -- looks like I'll be buying them at the grocery store.

I'm new at this and I'll just keep plugging away, sure is helpful to have input.

Thanks!

Being that this is only my 2nd season gardening here in florida alot fo what i do from seed is trial and error so i bought a 5 subject notebook and started takeing notes to help improve things if something i did last year didnt work out so well or i was too early on something i jot it down for when i get ready for next season and try somethig a little diffrent

choksaw wrote:Being that this is only my 2nd season gardening here in florida alot fo what i do from seed is trial and error so i bought a 5 subject notebook and started takeing notes to help improve things if something i did last year didnt work out so well or i was too early on something i jot it down for when i get ready for next season and try somethig a little diffrent

That's a great idea. I've been using a monthly desk calendar, but not much room to make detailed notes. Think I'll supplement with a notebook.