Can i use garden soil in my pots

Garden soil is heavier than typical potting soil and can quickly become compacted and saturated with water, resulting in poor or stunted growth of container plants. Since container plants grow in limited space, they need air space around the roots for healthy development. Besides garden soils, Miracle-Gro also offers a line of potting soils for filling pots and planters. You can either go for their all-purpose potting mix or choose one of the specialized potting mixes for growing specific container plants, like cactus or succulents.

According to the Miracle-Gro website, this potting mix is formulated with sphagnum peat, aged bark fines, perlite, coconut coir, and slow-release plant food to keep your plants nourished for around 6 months after planting the seeds. The density of garden soil is much higher than that of potting soil and will not allow water, air, and nutrient movement around the roots.

If you use garden soil, such as Miracle Gro Garden soil or Vigoro Garden soil you may run into some problems. Garden soil is simply too heavy, making containers much harder to move around than if you used potting mix.

That extra weight will lead to compaction from watering. The compaction will not allow the pot to drain and there will be no air in the soil for your plants. Additionally, garden soil will lack the nutrients your plants would usually gain from the ground that a soilless potting mix puts in right in the bag for you. If you are hell-bent on using garden soil, I would recommend amending the soil to improve the moisture retention, drainage, aeration and nutrient levels.

If you used soil from your yard, yes this can potentially kill your potted plants. Instead of throwing away the soil that you put into your container, you can dump it into a bucket and amend the soil. You will still need to amend the mixture. You can actually make your own potting soil by combining various ingredients together. Most gardeners will use perlite or vermiculite with peat or sphagnum moss. I like to use the ratio of 1 part moisture retention material to 1 part drainage and aeration materials plus the appropriate amount of nutrients, which will depend on the fertilizer you use and the size of your container.

Moisture retention is another important component of soil used in potting mixes. This is not good news for your plants. This FREE guide has 7 key questions to help you pick the perfect plants for your landscape. Pop in your email below for instant access. Plants in pots need fertilizer if you want to them to thrive. Because they are in a contained space, they only have access to the nutrients that you put into the container.

It results in a very lightweight material whose main purpose is for great soil aeration. Check out our Best Soil Amendments products page to help you get started on finding the products mentioned above! I grab a mixing bowl from our kitchen as a measuring tool sorry honey! I mix 4 parts bowls of peat moss with 1 part of vermiculite and 1 part perlite. It is very, very important to thoroughly wet your mix down in the wheelbarrow. The mix should not have any puddles of water, but it should be visibly wet, dark, and a few drops of water should drip out if you squeeze a handful of it.

I use wood chips because they are free and easily available to me. Gravel, leaves or something similar are other good filler options. Another trick for large pots is to put a small pot upside down in the large pot to take up space. Fill in the sides with whatever filler material you decided to use. Always make sure the pots have drainage holes in the bottom and you can see water flowing out of the bottom after watering. Please do not buy synthetic fertilizer! This is the worst thing you can do.

If you really have to buy something, try a granular or water soluble organic fertilizer. In order to gross out my wife…I mean……. In order to obtain great fertilizer, I make my own worm castings at home. I add about a cup or so to the top of the pot and mix it with the potting mix. Another thing I do is mix in some of my homemade compost to my potting mix.

One to two inches of compost will feed your plants for an entire season so a little goes a long way! Just mix it in and forget about it!

Make sure your container has a drain hole in the bottom and a saucer to protect your floor from water, if indoors. Cover the drain hole with a few small stones or a piece of mesh, to keep soil mix from falling out. Fill the container three-quarters of the way with potting soil, add seedlings or plants, and firm them in with more potting soil. Processed minimally, garden soil retains microbes that were in the original natural soil including bacteria, protozoa, fungi, actinomycetes, and nematodes, along with others leftover from composting.

The mix of microbes includes some types that benefit plants by helping them take up nutrients and water from the soil. Most weed seeds and harmful microbes are eliminated from garden soil by the heat that is generated during composting.

The few that may remain are vastly overshadowed by those existing in native soil. Manufacturers of potting soil intentionally sterilize the mix with either heat or chemicals to eliminate any potentially harmful microbes and kill weed seeds. In the absence of beneficial microbes that assist plants with nutrient uptake, potting soil includes some plant food. The price of potting soil per unit of volume is two to three times higher than garden soil, due to the higher level of processing of potting soil and different ingredients.

At a nation-wide retailer like Lowes, a. Potting soil is the only choice for container gardens.