Using a Soil Blocker: Start Your Fall Garden

A Soil Blocker is a great gadget for setting up your seedlings in flats

When August arrives it's time to get our cool season veggies started for fall. This year I'm getting a head start on planting seeds by using a soil blocker. The soil blocker is an easy to use and eco-friendly way to set up seedlings for your garden projects, any time of year.

August typically sneaks up too soon while I'm still distracted watching my tomatoes and peppers ripen, but this year I'm determined to give my fall garden crops a head start before the first frost hits. I was jolted into action after reading Becky Striepe's blog Eat Drink Better, on starting her seeds for fall planting.

Newspaper is a gardener' best friend!

 Luckily, I'm prepared to be a seed-sowing-machine thanks to my niece and awesome food blogger, Janina Larenas. She gave me a soil blocker, a clever device that will extrude blocks of moist potting soil ready for planting seeds; make as many as you need, when you need them. My soil blocker forms four blocks at a time, with small dimples on the top for placing the seed.

There is no need for plastic six-packs or other individual containers. I used some old flats I got free from my local nursery to set up the soil blocks and used damp newspaper to line the flats and help keep the soil moist.

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