A 3 cu ft bag of potting mix equals just under liters.

2 bags should be plenty for your sowing plans. 3 bags will give you enough so that you can increase your sowing plans as you go along and still probably be OK.

Unless, of course, that you go totally sowing nuts!

Lynda

I suggest that you buy your soiless potting mix now and store it in your garage or basement. Finding potting mix in winter months can be difficult and I can remember others posting about having to ask for someone to go out in the snow to get bags for them. I have found that nurseries will often have some bags inside though they may be more expensive than what one can get now from the big box stores.

If it freezes in your garage be sure to bring a bag inside a few days before you need it so that it can thaw.

For weeds in compost: my compost pile doesn't get hot enough to kill all the seeds and I also have had seeds sprout in the compost. Mulching with shredded leaves after planting a new bed, or on an empty bed waiting for seedlings next year, will keep those weed seeds from germinating. The mulch will also keep the soil loose and the few weed seedlings that might sprout are then easily pulled while still small.

Thanks very much for the definitive answer, Lynda. That's actually less than I anticipated, which is good because my lasagna beds are going to take much more than I anticipated!

That's a great suggestion to mulch over the weed seedlings with leaves, like I did underneath - I can get those for free! Then when I go to plant my seedlings, I'll just clear a spot in the mulch.

Thanks for the help.

Sorry - just noticed my typo.

3 cu ft is just under 85 liters.

If you ever need to do conversions like that you can just type "3 cu ft = ? liters" into Google. :)

Lynda

I used Fafard Professional Growers Mix and kept track of how many containers I WS from 1 compressed bale--200 containers before I went looking to buy another bale. This year I bought 3 bales at a local nursery supply place back in August so I'd be ready to WS when the time came. They're stacked in the middle of my garage between the car & truck so they shouldn't freeze before I start WS on 12/21. I'll start bringing buckets of my special blend inside over the Thanksgiving holiday. Now I know how great WS works, I'm itching to get started!

Something I learned the hard way,if your soil does freeze, and you do bring it into the house to thaw,be sure you put the whole bag in a hole free garbage bag, cause it will leak, all over your floor,or, place it in a big bucket.
I do all my WSing in the kitchen,where it is nice and warm,teehee
cAROL

I'd love to be able to find those compressed bales - for WS and for my beds. Not sure if I can over here though (I'm in Serbia). Maybe at agricultural stores.

Thanks for the warning cAROL!

Lynda - no apology necessary! I ended up googling it too. :)

I reccomend you use Miracle gro.potting mix...not potting soil.I would buy at least 2 lg 2cf bags of the mix and 3 if you can.You never know if you'll find one more type of seed you will want,lol.My first year I did about 400.lol
I have tried a couple of other potting mix but miracle gro has always worked great for me,
moonphase