How to Lay Out a Planting Bed

Coleman uses a soil block maker that he developed for Johnny’s Selected Seeds ($22 to $170 depending on the size). This is a mold that forms the wet growing medium into cubes. You can use different sizes to contain seeds of varying sizes.

Make a blocking mix that will hold together but not harden out of peat, sand, soil, and compost. Coleman uses the following recipe to make a large amount of mix at one time.
Start with three 10-quart buckets brown peat.
Mix in 1/2 cup lime.
Add two 10-quart buckets coarse sand or perlite and 3 cups base fertilizer, and mix together.
Add one 10-quart bucket soil and two 10-quart buckets compost, and mix thoroughly.