Gardening Questions sowing seeds indoors

If you can get yourself a soil sieve then that would help, or you could make yourself one. Make a frame about 10" by 12" and enclose a square piece of wire mesh. The squares need to be about 0.5 cm square (sorry for switching from imperial to metric). Sieve the large bulky bits from your Hungarian Compost. Add some silver sand/washed sand - 3 parts soil to 1 part sand and that may improve your seed compost. Seeds tend to prefer a non-nutrient based soil to grow in, they should only be given a nutrient rich soil when they have reached a good root system and the top growth is strong enough to handle the stems.
I am really bad at growing seeds full stop, but this is the best advice I can give. It seems like hard work at the beginning but you can use the sieve year after year. you might be able to purchase a soil sieve on the internet?
Good luck
Andrea

Thanks Andrea, That is very helpful. We have not seen garden sieves here, so we will need to make. The local soil is very fine and sandy so I guess they don't need them. I will try to find out from locals where I can buy washed sand. I guess the sandy soil from my garden would need to be sterilised somehow!! Do you know how to do this?

If you cannot get sand and have to use your soil then putting it in the microwave is the best way to sterilise small amounts. Make sure there is no metal in the soil though. I put it in a small plastic dish with perforated cling film over the top. You would need to experiment with times as different microwaves and soils vary so much. The soil needs to get hot enough for any seeds in it to fry!

I read online you can sterlize your soil in the Microwave , ive never done it myself but hope this helps
http://www.momsbudget.com/containergardening/sterilizemicrowave.html
Be careful .

hi Chris, a more long term solution, why not make your own compost? takes a while to do, and you would proberly need to still use Andreas sieve idea to get rid of the big lumps, but it might be worth thinking about for future use, also good for the garden if the compost in Hungary is not much cop.

add some fine sand to your multi purpose and stand back .Results will be sure to follow