Restarting more seeds

4/12
Chris looked up some information on soil and reasons why seeds may fail to germinate. He came across this website and discovered that
            "When using blood meal, partially composted manure or poultry-manure based fertilizer be aware that these high N sources need some time to allow for microbial activity start breaking the organic forms of N and drive them to nitrate (the process called mineralization). If planted into too soon, when first wetted and just starting to break down, these materials may give off ammonia, organic acids and other compounds that can damage germinating seeds and young plants. It is best to moisten the potting mix at least a week or two before you plant into it, making sure it stays warm and allowing time for phytotoxic compounds to dissipate."

So our best guess on why the seeds either were too slow to germinate or just completely broke down is because of the excess ammonia gas from the soil. It could of also been the sand or manure we purchased. Either way it is a pain and lesson learned: Buy potting soil to make soil blocks and screw making our own soil. The cost savings is not there and it takes way too much time and effort for the chance to negatively effect the seeds. 
I replanted some seeds in the same blocks and some came up and other still didn't. Gardening seems to teach you something every year. Always a challenge, but the reward is there when I can pull out a jar of tomato sauce in March or make a complete dinner from the garden during harvest time.