Container gardening is lots of fun, but if you start with the wrong potting soil it’s difficult to get the results you want. Hanging garden planters need a lighter soil mix than window boxes, and both potting mixes differ from the kind of soil that’s best for deep shade containers. Starting with the right soil will go a long way towards insuring that the money you spend on plants and pots is not wasted, so don’t skimp on this basic and crucial element.

Potting soil comes in both organic and non-organic mixes. Both can be used for container gardening, but only organic potting mixes can be successfully reused. Non-organic potting soil is a sterile mixture of rich black hummus, peat, manure, and fertilizing agents combined to accommodate a specific gardening use for a single season. After that first usage, non-organic mix must be discarded.

Container plantings are artificial environments in which seasonal plants only have access to whatever nutrients you provide for them in the form of soil and plant food. For this reason, non-organic potting mix is too depleted at the end of a growing season to be reused. However, non-organic mix is usually less expensive than organic mix, and it is perfectly good for growing gorgeous container plants.

Organic potting mix contains living microbiotic agents that contribute to healthy soil and are derived from natural materials. At the end of the growing season you can dump organic mix on your garden beds or save it for re-use the following year. With organic potting soil you have the satisfaction of knowing that you are using natural, ecologically friendly materials that can be safely recycled. With non-organic mix you get to start fresh each year with clean, rich soil.

Never use ordinary garden soil to pot up your containers or hanging planters. The soil in your yard may or may not be rich enough to sustain annuals in a pot or window box, and it will almost certainly be of the wrong consistency. Soil from your yard may also harbor viruses or bugs that can kill or weaken your plants.

For full sun plantings, look for a medium weight prepackaged potting mixture that holds water well. Many potting soils are available for specific indoor and outdoor potting conditions. If you’ve never planted your own containers before, it’s a good idea to look for one of these special mixes. Some of them come with fertilizer already added to give your plants a good head start.

Shade plantings and hanging baskets can take a lighter potting soil, and shade baskets can take the lightest mix of all. If you choose a very heavy potting mix for shade gardens, they can become waterlogged, causing the roots to rot. If you choose too light a mix for full sun plants, the soil will dry out so quickly the plants will not be able to get the nutrients they need.

If you keep a compost pile or bin, container plants will benefit from the occasional addition of a little compost the same way your garden does. Just work a little in between the roots. You can also make a ‘compost tea’ for watering by mixing a little compost with water and pouring it on the soil. Your plants will love this. If you don’t already have a compost pile, you can do the same thing with sterile manure that you purchase in 40 pound bags at the garden center.

Look for a potting mix with fertilizer already included, and follow the instructions on the bag with regard to future feeding. Most container plants like to be fed regularly with a high-nitrogen and high-phosphorus fertilizer like Fertilome or Miracle Grow.  You can purchase fertilizer spikes that you stick in the pot to dissolve slowly, or slow-release granules that you sprinkle on top of the soil, or liquid that you dilute and use for watering.

Stay away from the ultralight mix that is often used in garden centers for hanging baskets. This potting mix is composed almost completely of sphagnum moss and peat and is used only because it makes the hanging planters easy to tote around the garden center and lightweight to ship by truck. Once you get the planter home however, this kind of mix dries out very fast and will quickly frustrate you (and your plants) on hot sunny days.

If you plan to make up lots of containers, you can mix up your own all-purpose potting soil by combining four parts standard bagged garden soil (from your garden center or home improvement store), two parts compost or peat, and one part coarse bagged sand. (If you like, the two parts compost or peat can be all or part bagged manure).

You can mix this up in any quantity you like so long as the proportions stay roughly the same and use it for almost any application. For a lighter mixture to use in hanging planters, take the finished all-purpose mix and add a little sphagnum moss (about one half of the amount of soil) for more volume and less weight.

Before you buy your potting soil, take a look at all the information available online about homemade and ready-made potting mixes. That way when you go out to buy, you will already have a good sense of what is available and what you will need. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, and by all means, have fun!

Gardening is serious stuff, but in the end, it’s not really all that hard. Once you get the hang of creating your own container gardens by using the best soil you can buy or make, you’ll feel like a garden professional in no time!

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.