Soil Blocking

Join Niki Jabbour for a tutorial on starting seeds in soil blocks, including step-by-step instructions for making soil blocks.

Get an early start to your growing season with Johnny's soil-block makers. You can easily make your own seed-starting blocks with our soil-block-making tools and a bag of germination soil mix. Soil-blocked seedlings reestablish themselves more quickly, with less transplant shock. Soil blocks also eliminate the expense, waste, and storage issues of plastic pots, and their negative impact on the environment.

Instructions for operation, use, and maintenance of the Johnny's 12-Cell Soil Blocker.

Follow these instructions with your Johnny's soil-block makers for best success, creating blocks of growing medium that have been lightly compressed, so they maintain their shape without the need for plastic containers. As your seedlings grow, their roots reach the edges of the soil block and are air-pruned by the separation between the blocks while increasing the oxygen available to the roots, which can increase vigor. This gives seedlings a substantial advantage when transplanted into the field — reduced root-disruption makes them less prone to transplant shock.

Soil-blocking is an ingenious seed-starting method that allows the grower to produce vigorous seedlings with roots that quickly reestablish growth upon transplanting. Soil-blocking further eliminates the expense, waste, and storage issues associated with plastic pots. Read Eliot Coleman's account of how he came to develop and perfect this system for the small commercial grower.

Learn how to start professional-quality seedlings using the 3 key indoor seed-starting methods used at Johnny’s Research Farm. This article covers the key seed-starting tools, supplies, and techniques we use for starting seedlings in our greenhouses, including advantages and drawbacks of each type of system: 1) Trays & Cell Flats; 2) Biodegradable Pots; and 3) Soil Blocks created with Soil-Block Makers, developed in partnership with Johnny's Tools Advisor, Eliot Coleman.

Johnny's 512 Mix is a complete, compost-based growing mix for soil blocks, trays, or other growing containers. A blend of mature compost, sphagnum, fish meal, and perlite, with no chemical fertilizer or wetting agents added, it is approved for use in organic production in the state of Maine through the MOFGA.

For experienced vegetable farmers looking to expand into commercial cut-flower production, as well as the more casual — yet entrepreneurial — gardener exploring ways to create a tidy income stream on the side, these personal narratives from expert farmers around the nation introduce our top-15 choices for getting started in cut flowers. Remember to take notes as you create your seed lists!

We introduce you to a few of the growers we have the honor to serve, who in turn serve their communities by growing produce that keeps them vibrant and strong.

Johnny's Research Department is honored to work together with Eliot Coleman to develop and test tools of superior design and performance for our home and market garden customers — we know you appreciate high quality and lasting value. Forged over 2 decades ago by our founder and CEO, Rob Johnston, Jr., Johnny's partnership with Eliot is predicated on common core values:. • Advocacy for small-scale sustainable agriculture. • A strong commitment to sharing knowledge. • A passion for ergonomic tool design and development

Starting your own seeds is a great way to extend the growing season, grow a wider selection of varieties, and save money. Here are some guidelines and troubleshooting advice for growers who are starting seeds indoors, from the Research & Trialing team at Johnny's.

Visit our library of farming method, tool, accessory, and supply-specific information for assembly and instruction manuals, parts and cost calculators, comparison charts, guides and articles — an extensive set of resources made available by the Tool Research, Design, Development & Trialing Team at Johnny's Selected Seeds.