How to Make the Perfect Soil Mix for Seed Sowing

Posted on by julia erickson

With spring just around the corner, sowing seeds offers me further hope that I will soon be in the garden. One of the most important factors in the success of my seed sowing is the quality of the soil that I use.

With seeds, it’s a tricky balance you need to strike: when the soil is too heavy, seeds which take a long time to germinate are at risk of rotting and the seedlings succumb to more fungal disease; and when the soil is too light, the seeds dry out too quickly. I have tried various store bought seed starting mixes, but often even they are too heavy, so to provide proper drainage and aeration, I now mix my own.

If I am only sowing a few seeds, I will use a doctored cactus mix. I buy soil labeled cactus mix and lighten it by adding perlite at a ratio of 2 parts cactus mix to 1 part perlite. If I have many seeds to start, I will make my own starting mix of equal parts coarse sand, perlite, and peat moss.

Once the soil is prepared, I gently fill my containers, firmly tamp them down, sow my seeds, add more sand to cover on top, mist my containers, and I’m done.

Related posts: Raised Vegetable Beds – Organically Preparing the Soil for Planting; and How to Build Raised Vegetable Beds

Unknown's avatar

Published by julia erickson

world famous heirloom rose gardener and founder and ceo of jolie in madison, new jersey

6 thoughts on “How to Make the Perfect Soil Mix for Seed Sowing”

  1. Since I will soon be starting my seeds, it was good to read this post. I hadn’t thought of using cactus mix for seed starting. I didn’t have good results with a seed-starting mix last year, so I think I will try using your recipe. Thanks for this!

    Like

  4. Kelly,I don’t think you should treat these seeds differently than any other pepper seeds. If you are particularly concerned, you could try a few before you prepare all of them. Good luck.-Heirloom Gardener

    Like

Leave a comment