Starting/Potting Mixtures for backyard gardeners

[Dan]

I apologize if this has been covered before, and you can thoroughly give me a beating if it has, but....

...for those of us who live in the city and don't have squat for backyards, can anyone provide a guide for mixing up something decent from the items you can buy at Lowes/Home Depot/Menards/etc that would be "ok" at best for pots and such?

My backyard is about the size of my living room, and living in a 1300 square foot house, that ain't big. I have a lot of pots/drums/boxes I plan on utitlizing this year to grow certain things (peppers, greens, etc), but I have no clue what time of mix I should use in those.

I know, it sucks not being able to compost and create my own, but I have to work with what I have until we win the lottery and I can buy a farm and be Farmer Dan

Thanks in advance.

[plantsnobin]

I would suggest going to a local garden center and seeing what they have in the way of potting mixes. If you can get the pro-mixes, I would go with that. NOT Miracle Gro or any Scotts products, but ask them about the pro mixes. The stuff they use in the greenhouses themselves. Most of the perennial mixes will be pretty much composted pine bark in varying degrees. For containers you want big chunks of stuff rather than small particles that will pack down, not letting enough air in. A decent garden center should sell worm castings that you can add too.

[Dan]

Thank you for the information...this is all new to me and I appreciate any advice. Thanks!

[Alan]

Pro-Mix and various spagnum based mixes are the best as Karen says.

If you are intent on creating something yourself it will depend on what you need.

A good seed starting mixture is.

4 parts Spagnum peat
1 part vermiculite or pearlite or both
a handfull of lime
Palm Olive original as a wetting agent for the peat.

For growing in pots though, I'd definitely go with the pre packaged mixtures Karen was talking about unless you have some woodlands you can scavenge for some stuff.

[Dan]

No woodlands, just city blocks

I went to a local place this weekend and looks like they have a variety of items. I plan on going back and writing down the names and such to get some reviews.

Thanks!

[Dan]

woohoo...found some worm castings today still might be good to make a decent potting mixture yet!

[Dan]

Found a few different pro mixes today, picked up a loose packed one for getting some items started here soon.

Thanks again everyone for the advice!

[Alan]

Use those worm castings in the pro-mix as well, this will give you the benefit of a slow release fertilizer as well as the introduction of benificial micro organisms and fungi. Usually about 3 parts pro mix to 1 part castings.

[Dan]

I mixed up some the other day as I was making some starting containers (using 2 sterlite with a rope light for a bottom warmer, etc...) and actually went 4-1 on the mixture. We will see how it turns out as I just put a few seeds in today....but it's a secret as to what's in the boxes

[cornishwoman]

If you have a co- op in your town they may stock seed growing mix,I noticed our co-op stocks it,I was there yesterday to pick up some forage grass seed,there was some large bags of seedling soil in their ware house,I think it was a 35lb bag,sorry dont know the price,but the co-op is fair on prices,well in my town they are.

[maricybele]

As a child the nursery sold charcoal chunks for the bottoms of pots and back then I had a super green thumb. Could it have been the charcoal I wonder that made the plants grow so well? Now that I have been studying terra preta, I will be using it at the bottom of any of my pots.

[garry88220]

"Palm Olive original as a wetting agent for the peat."

Do you mean the dish soap? If so why? Thanks Garry

[grunt]

A wetting agent reduces the surface tension of water. By adding it to your potting soil, you reduce the time it takes for the soil to take up water. Without wetting agent, you can have some or all cells in the tray refuse to absorb water if they get dried out. Also known on another thread as "surfactants" (without the chocolate).