Monday, March 10, 2008

Handmade "Soil Block" maker

I saw this on the Path to Freedom site and figured out how to make one out of scrap wood I had laying about the workshop. It took me about an hour to make the mold and plunger, and of course had to wait for the WATERPROOF glue to set up. Good clamps made this easy. I sanded it down to round off the edges. Really not difficult to make one.

It worked well, even though it will be making only one soil block at a time. Path to Freedom also has soil block makers for sale, here.



Anyway, I figured a bit of work, and I could be frugal, AND have my soil blocks too. So far I've made 2 trays full of soil blocks. I get 36 to the standard tray. I enjoy doing that and it is easy. So I think the house will soon be filled with seedling trays.

I also have 2 other seedling trays filled with little paper cups, and several little starts of swiss chard, tomatoes, cucumbers, and basil. I want to grow a whole lot more basil, so I'll be making more soil blocks. I'll be using them to start seeds during the whole growing season.

3 comments:

Periwinkle said...

What part of Md do you live in? I thought our state was zone 7, you have a nice blog!

James said...

periwinkle,

We make our home right outside of Annapolis.

As for the zone... here is a link, most of the state is zone 7. http://www.growit.com/bin/USDAZoneMaps.exe?MyState=MD

We are near the water, so the Bay keeps us from getting too cold.

Thanks for the compliment on the blog! C'mon back soon!

dawn said...

would you be willing to pass on your soil block directions? plus doesn't the soil fall apart while the seed starts to grow?