My seed starter mix is Bio-Comp, from a company of the same name in Eden, NC. Unfortunately, the closest distributor is in Baltimore, so I mailorder this from A.M. Leonard (I feel silly, shipping dirt!). I've also used the summer mix as a potting soil. It's lovely!
I use 2" deep 72-cell plug trays to start, and then move to 3" diameter pots as needed. Most of my seedlings, with the exception of tomatoes, go directly from the plug trays into the ground. Even tall varieties such as marigolds and sunflowers (both exceptions to my only-grow-if-unusual dictum) work well in these trays.
This year, my greenhouse is full of 25 5-Qt pots which hold the beachplum seedlings. The difficulty with this is that they end up being too tall for the benches. Next year I plan to place boards under the bench
(there are cross braces to support these) and use the bottom row for the many, many beach plums that I plan to grow.
During the Summer the misting system, and the fans, keep the greenhouse quite cool. Nevertheless, most seedlings will need to be out of there by mid-June as it's simply too hot. During seed planting season I'm on my feet quite a bit, so I've acquired 2 rubbermaid stools that are plastic and impervious to the greenhouse climate. If you look carefully at the pictures you'll notice the warming mats for propagation, fans, supplemental heater, and all the wonderful gizmos on which I depend.
Not unexpectedly, someone who has a weather station in the greenhouse leaves no detail unaddressed. I have a labelmaker to create waterproof labels that are pasted on either wood (popsickle) or plastic plant markers. This works well when it's time to place the seedlings in the ground. As already noted, once planted I tend to forget what I've placed where.
Once again, thanks Joe and Paul for setting this up!
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