Growing mix

top left: peat moss, bottom right: growing mix

When we seed, we first sow the seeds into plastic pots/growing trays containing a growing mix. We mix top soil with perlite (to make the soil more breathable) , peat moss (for its water holding capacity) and dolopril (to add alkalinity) to make the growing mix. People use different ingredients to make growing media. When I was in Kaneko Yoshinori's (Organic farming expert in Japan) farm they used sifted top soil, charred rice chaff and wood ashes only.