The Best Potting Soils - Top Five Commercial Soil Mixes For Vegetable Gardens
89Treat your plants to the best potting soils this year. As another growing season fades away, many gardeners are turning to their trusty indoor gardens. But as with your outdoor garden, your indoor garden is also going to need a premium potting soil to hold your through the cold months ahead. With all the options available, which bag of soil to choose can become a difficult decision. Not to mention, your plant's health depends on your decision! If you're unhappy with your current potting soil or are just starting a new container garden, you won't want to miss these five best potting soils. They’re sure to keep your plants healthy, no matter what season it is!
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Beginner Container Gardener?
Here's a great guide for the beginner Organic container gardener.
1. FoxFarm Ocean Forest Potting Soil
· Average Price: $15-20 Per 1.5 Cubic foot Bag of Soil
· Ingredients: Composted forest humus, sphagnum peat moss, Pacific Northwest sea-going fish, crab meal, shrimp meal, earthworm castings, vermicultural compost, sandy loam, perlite, fossilized bat guano, granite dust, Norwegian kelp meal and oyster shell.
This all-natural organic potting soil remains number one in my potted gardens. Almost all of my container gardens are planted with this great soil. With all the composted material, there are plenty of available nutrients to keep many plants thriving without the use of fertilizers. For heavy feeding vegetable plants, Ocean Forest blend will keep your plants fed for one month before a fertilizer is needed. Another great feature to this potting soil is its ability to resist compacting over the season. Although all potting soils will compact, Ocean Forest seems to have just the right amount of humus and perlite to keep compaction to a minimum. This allows for better oxygenation of the root system, therefore allowing for vigorous growth!
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Have the Soil, Now What?
Now that you have the right soil for your garden needs, you'll want to start laying out and plan your garden space.
2. Roots Organics Formula 707
· Average Price: $25-30 Per 3.0 Cubic feet Bag of Soil.
· Ingredients: Coarse peat, coco fiber, compost, perlite, pumice, worm castings, bat guano, fish bone meal, soybean meal, feather meal, and kelp meal.
Another favorite for my potted plants is the Roots Organics Formula 707. This unique blend contains less pumice and perlite than many other potting soils, allowing for exceptional water retention. Gardeners in arid areas will find this soil very useful! This nutrient packed soil will keep heavy feeding plants fed for up to one month before fertilizer is needed. Plants with medium to low nutrient requirements will thrive all summer without fertilizer. I prefer to use the Formula 707 blend for my potted tomato plants. This soil keeps moist even during the hottest of days!
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3. Sunshine Advanced Mix 4 Potting Mix
· Average Price: $30-35 per 3.0cu ft Bag of soil.
· Ingredients: Made from sustainably harvested Canadian Sphagnum peat moss, horticultural perlite and coir (a by-product of the coconut industry). Dolomitic lime, multiple strains of mycorrhizae and an organic wetting agent.
Sunshine Advanced Mix 4 is not your typical potting soil. This unique organic mix will expand to double the size when broken apart, giving you 6cu ft of potting mix. Choosing this potting mix is a great way to get more for your money. This water retaining soil mix will feed your plants for three weeks before a fertilizer is needed. The unique potting mixture stimulates root growth and allows for the highest aeration a soil can offer. I have just started using this soil mix and the results have been fantastic. Although a stricter fertilizer schedule is needed, Sunshine Advanced Mix 4 is a great alternative to traditional potting soils.
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4. FoxFarm Happy Frog Potting Soil
· Average Cost: $10-15 Per 2.0cu ft Bag of Soil
· Ingredients: Composted forest humus, sphagnum peat moss, perlite, earthworm castings, bat guano, humic acid (derived from Leonardite), oyster shell and dolomite lime (for pH adjustment).
Happy Frog Potting Soil is a great inexpensive alternative to the Ocean Forest Soil. If you are more of a practical gardener with a rather small budget, Happy Frog is a great potting soil choice. The people at FoxFarm Soil and Fertilizer Company have come up with a great simple blend of components, perfect for growing potted vegetables, herbs and flowers. Happy Frog comes loaded with beneficial soil microbes and fungi. These creatures will supply a continuous supply of nutrients as well as promote root growth. This simple potting soil will exceed expectations!
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5. Premier Pro-Mix Ultimate Organic Mix
· Average Price: $5-7 Per 1cu ft Bag
· Ingredients: Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss, Sea-based Compost, Limestone, Perlite, and Mycorise.
Pro-Mix Ultimate Organic mix is perfect for the small container gardener. If you're just looking to have a few potted plants on the patio, this is the perfect soil! The slow-release nutrient formula is perfect for growing small container herbs and vegetables. Container gardeners with larger needs can still find use in this great soil as a seed starter. This inexpensive soil is great for propagating large quantities of seeds. Plus the added Mycorise will boost seedling root production. This formula will feed plants for up to a month before a fertilizer is needed.
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CommentsLoading...
Hello.
I am Dr. Suran Singh the general manager of a well establish marketing company located in Trinidad and I'm looking for top quality potting soil premium brand viable for a framer on a third world budget, is their any thing cost efficient but effective in terms off a quality nursery potting soil for the purpose of hatching/germinating seedlings. A potting soil mixture that make a good initial agent for growing healthy plants and increasing it's structural integrity all the plant to absorb and retain the proper nutrients?
PS: We currently buy promix in large quantities (Importing containers) but I looking for something with coco peat! A upgraded mixture!!!!!!!!!!!!
The only one on your list that is readily available where I live is the Pro-Mix, which I have used with much success.
where can i find pro mix in knoxville tennessee
These are all new to me. A very helpful post. I was just bemoaning the quality of potting soil.
oh yea i have used all of the above soils, and i stand by fox farm and the sunshine mix and promix. the roots organic many times comes very dry and covered in mold. i have heard reports of roots organics having fungus gnats in the bag on a large scale. none the less if you buy a bag and water it well and let it sit for a week or longer, you will grow some very nice plants and the soil has a great texture, coco peat based. i dont really find coco peat to be superior to peat moss, for me the real debate is where i am located. coco peat generally comes from southeast asia and peat moss from canada and alaska so cheaper due to location. im using my own mix of 55% promix, 15% worm castings, 30% compost and composted manures, then add blood meal, bone meal, and kelp meal on the larger beds and most of the time buy the fox farm on my smaller sized containers.
The Dirt Farmer Level 5 Commenter 15 months ago
A very useful review! Thanks.