Mole hills for seed compost

Hi all.

My dad reckons that Mole hills make excellent seed compost. His logic being that the moles dig below most roots, but above the subsoil, producing lovely fine weed free soil. So I've collected a bucket full from my land with a view to getting some seeds on the go.

Has anyone else heard of this trick? I would have thought the flaw in my dad's logic is that many seeds will be in the soil, that have got there over the years and not had the chance to germinate. Like when you dig over a patch of fairly barron ground and then just leave it, and all sorts of things then appear in it. But my dad reckons he's not the only one that does this trick, and indeed he learnt it from someone else so its not a new idea.

 

I've heard that it's very good soil and I always collect it and throw on the top of my garden or allotment but I haven't heard of using it for seeds, but what do I know?!!:D

 

I'm NOT fully clued up on this but I recently heard Carol Klein say something that its always best to use a seed compost as opposed to soil due to "Pathogens" and other things in the soil. Seed compost is apparently sterilised removing such nasties.

Steve...[hr]
Just had a quick google and found this statement. "Seed composts need to be low in nutrients partly because some minerals can be harmful to newly germinated plants and partly since they come with enough nourishment built-in to support their growth to the point at which the first pair of true leaves have appeared."

Molehill soil will contain mole droppings, so may be too rich.

Coarse fishermen will know this, but because a Moles diet consists mainly of worms, their droppings and subsequent molehills are collected by anglers, riddled and used as an attracter when fishing.

Steve...

 

My father's walk to work would take him past fields with mole hills and he would come home with a bag full every day to use in his greenhouse borders.

I would also collect it to earn extra pocket money.

Over the course of many years our back garden soil level ended up about 100mm higher than the neighbours' purely from all those countless bags of mole hill soil.