An Alternative to Plastic Pots

Adrian Skilling, one of the Annecy Gardeners, has been experimenting with soil blocking in an effort to find an alternative to using plastic pots.

Soil blocks made with a special tool which makes 4 blocks from the compost mix

Adrian has been taking his own garden compost & leafmould, sieving them & then mixing them with sand & coir, this last is important as it holds the blocks together.

Here's the sieve which Adrian has made to fit over a wheelbarrow & through which the garden compost & leafmould pass before being mixed into the blocking compost

The advantages of this technique is that no containers are required & the plant roots don't swirl around, as they stop when they reach the edge of the block ~ this makes for easier & more successful transplants. However, the blocks do require more watering than conventional pots.

Adrian is currently trialling different mixes of homemade compost & comparing them with New Horizon peat-free compost.