How to Make Your Own Seed Starting Soil
How to Make Your Own Seed Starting Soil
I notice lots of gardeners stressing over soil when they start their seeds. They spend TONS of money or make crazy complicated mixes that aren’t necessary. I’m going to simplify it for you here in this post. It’s not hard. Seedlings have very basic needs! Here’s how to make your own seed-starting soil without breaking the bank.
Your seedlings need:
Well-draining soil so their roots don’t rot
Fine soil so their roots can grow and expand easily
Well-balanced, light nutrients to avoid burning baby roots or causing massive growth spurts that hurt the longevity of the plant
How Can You Make Your Own Seed Starting Soil?
You should be amending your soil between every planting season. For me, that means a fresh layer of compost, a dusting of seaweed powder or bone meal, and a sprinkle of powdered eggshells.
Over time the nutrients and soil volume break down. This amending process keeps everything topped off. Right before you amend is the time to make your seed starting soil.
You’ll need a soil sifter for this process. You can make one yourself super easily with some ¼ inch hardware cloth and a piece of 1x2 wood. Just frame up a rectangle and staple the hardware cloth onto it. I use two layers of hardware cloth to make the holes even smaller. Remember, you want fine soil!
Sifting Your Seed Starting Soil
The base of my seed starting soil recipe is my old garden bed soil.
This is perfect from a nutrient standpoint because it’s not totally spent (because I amend my soil regularly) but it has been used for a round of crops so it’s not really hot either. As I said above, seedlings don’t like too many nutrients! It’s easy to burn those tiny root hairs and stunt future growth.
However, just using raw garden soil won’t work well because it’s not fine enough. This is where your sifter comes in. I take a couple of scoops of soil out of each of my garden beds and sift them into the wheelbarrow. I toss what doesn’t go through the sifter back into the beds. I have about 25 beds so I don’t need to take a lot from each.
It’s okay if you only have a few beds and you need to take a lot of soil from each one! Just scoop from the edges so you don’t disturb any existing plants. You’ll fill it back in when you amend.
Creating Your Seed Starting Mix
Once you have a wheelbarrow full of sifted seed starting soil it’s time to mix in the vermiculite. I buy mine on Amazon. Don’t get too worried about the perfect mix here!
Just throw some in there and mix it in. I usually do about 12 cups of vermiculite per wheelbarrow of sifted soil. I mix it with my hands. It feels so good and is super healing. I can feel my nervous system re-setting and grounding as I mix.
Storing Your Seed Starting Soil
That’s it! You are done! I just dump the soil into a large tote in my greenhouse and it’s there whenever I need it. Make sure your soil is dry when you store it. If it’s not you can lay it out on a tarp in the sun for a day or two. If you put wet soil in a tote and put a lid on it, you will come back to a mess of mold and it will be a total waste.
Okay so before you go let’s recap in a quick easy list.
Seed Starting Soil Recipe:
One wheelbarrow of sifted garden soil
12 Cups of vermiculite
Mix and store somewhere dry.
Infuse a Little Magic
I love to infuse a little practical magic into everything I do in the garden. When I’m mixing the soil with my hands, I’m infusing intentions of health, abundance, and growth into the soil.
The energy you are in while you are making your seed starting soil is the energy that will be transferred to your seedlings as they grow.
Ready to plant some seeds? Learn how to start seeds indoors here.
