I would not bother with the peat moss, a non renewable resource and an unnecessary expenditure of your money, since th leaves are what the peat moss is for and do a better job then peat moss ever would.

Wow!

I'm impressed with your system;

love the idea of using your good mix to get the plants off to a good start.

I always think "nothing succeeds like success", & getting new plants started & passing them on may actually get a new gardener started, too.

So...
Congratulations, & good for you!

I wondered if peat moss added much. It costs $ 13 for the large bale and I want the mix to be as cheap as possible. I will leave it out next batch. I probable just started using it the first time as I had a couple half price bales floating around and the mix worked so well I didn't want to risk changing.

Beano -- Will you please start another thread subject telling which plants you have propogated in this way?

I'm rooting sweet potato vines and hope to pot and give to church members in the spring. Ditto for starting vegetable seedlings. So many young families are stretched thin for both money and time. I've never done this B4 and would appreciate benefit of your experience, and I'll bet I'm not the only one.

Thanks - barb

In response to barb most of my propagation efforts are directed towards perennial flowers, tress and shrubs. I don't have a green house and have friends that trade me veggie starters for what i do propagate. I imagine that my mix would not be recommended for starting seeds were I would recommend potting mix or Al's mix where the cost of the mix is a small factor in the cost of plant development. I also wouldn't recommend the mix for plants that are to be kept in container for extended period. When plants are grown indoors in a greenhouse there are all kind of disease considerations that probably work against my cheap mix.

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I like the mowing part. I rake the leaves onto the lawn and spread them as much as possible. That mulches the leaves with grass clippings. The leaves mixed with grass clippings are mixed well and compost really well.

to sense

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I actually went out and gathered 35 bags of leaves this fall. (Not a tree in my yard, the neighbors yes, but I can get them pre-bagged for free anywhere in the city!).
Did the same thing last year out front so I know this works. #1--build raised bed--cheap lumber in a square 3'x8'
(I'm short so 3' is better than the usual 4'Wide)
#2--filled with a bale of straw--till 6-8" thick, add leaves, plus free compost from the city. Water well between each layer.
#3--Then let it sit and compost for the winter. By spring it will be half as thick and ready to add just enough soil on top to plant the plants.
My tomato plants were almost 7' tall--despite all the rains it drained very well and saved my garden. This year that vegetable garden will be flower beds (out front) and doing the same thing for raised beds out back--yep, 35 bags of oak leaves gone in a snap!!

Beano, that sounds like a terrible method. I'll let you dispose of them in my yard after you've mulch mowed them. I'm really nice like that.

I do something very similar with the leaves and the mower, but I dump them out onto my landscape beds and use them as mulch.