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Location: Was Midvalley Oregon; Now Eastside Seattle area
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OP: In the PNW, the potting soil is made from evergreen tree bark (fir, pine, cedar, hardwood) of varying amounts of composting. We have a lot of trees. Its really too light but OK for starts.
@Hemlock. A few weeks ago, We bought some garden soil for DS's garden at Redmond's HD.
It was so wierd. When we were farming, we bought mushroom compost or barkdust (minus onehalf))by the "unit" truckload. If I needed some for the home garden, I run down to the distributor for 2 yards (pickup).
If I needed some dirt, I'd get a bucket load on the farm and throw it into the pickup.
Mushroom compost is too hot and dense for potting soil. You will need to add some fine sand or silt and some fine bark dust or similar. About equal volumes will be OK. May have bugs, worms, and snail eggs. Organic.
Last edited by leastprime; 05-17-2022 at 04:44 PM..
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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For my 60+ Bonsai, I use no soil, just 100% Turface All Sport calcined clay granules. It's similar to what's used on professional baseball diamonds. I last got it for $12/50 lb. bag at John Deere Landscape, about 7 years ago. They are now SiteOne Landscape Supply and that bag is $19.95. They also have a large variety of potting soils, but no prices on their website, you have to call.
Have you tried a landscape supply store? If you are looking to get a lot, it is usually cheaper to have them deliver it in cubic yards than to get tons of bags. There are 27 cubic feet in a cubic yard. Locally the garden mix is only about $77 plus the delivery fee, so you still come out ahead.
For raised beds, you can buy a few yards of sand from the sand and gravel yard, as long as it isn't beach sand (with salt). Mix that about 1/2 and 1/2 with compost or well rotted manure, and you can raise just about anything in it.
Ask around. You can get manure from horse stables and llama farms and you can usually get it for free if you will come and haul it away.
Sometimes the local dump will be selling compost by the yard.
There will be someone near you that sells landscaping supplies by the yard: rocks, bark, gravel, sand, topsoil, compost...
The agricultural chemical store in your area probably sells the 40 gallon bags of perlite, but I only use that for potted plants, to make the pots lighter to move around. I don't think plants actually get any benefit from it except that it holds water. More to the benefit of the human so you don't have to water as often. (you know, the place where farmers go to buy their stuff in 50 gallon drums and 50 pound bags. Sometimes irrigation equipment stores also sell that sort of stuff.)
Watch for the potting soil in the spring at Costco. The price is really good but they will only carry it for a few weeks. It's not an item that is always there.
For my 60+ Bonsai, I use no soil, just 100% Turface All Sport calcined clay granules. It's similar to what's used on professional baseball diamonds. I last got it for $12/50 lb. bag at John Deere Landscape, about 7 years ago. They are now SiteOne Landscape Supply and that bag is $19.95. They also have a large variety of potting soils, but no prices on their website, you have to call.
interesting. you should post pics of some of your bonsais, i'd like to see them. it seems like clay granules would provide no nutritional value to the trees - do you have to supplement with something in the water?
Quote:
Originally Posted by RamenAddict
Have you tried a landscape supply store? If you are looking to get a lot, it is usually cheaper to have them deliver it in cubic yards than to get tons of bags. There are 27 cubic feet in a cubic yard. Locally the garden mix is only about $77 plus the delivery fee, so you still come out ahead.
this is probably my best bet. a local place has garden soil mix for $55/cubic yard if you buy 3 yards, plus a $45 delivery fee.
Quote:
Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke
For raised beds, you can buy a few yards of sand from the sand and gravel yard, as long as it isn't beach sand (with salt). Mix that about 1/2 and 1/2 with compost or well rotted manure, and you can raise just about anything in it.
Ask around. You can get manure from horse stables and llama farms and you can usually get it for free if you will come and haul it away.
Sometimes the local dump will be selling compost by the yard.
There will be someone near you that sells landscaping supplies by the yard: rocks, bark, gravel, sand, topsoil, compost...
The agricultural chemical store in your area probably sells the 40 gallon bags of perlite, but I only use that for potted plants, to make the pots lighter to move around. I don't think plants actually get any benefit from it except that it holds water. More to the benefit of the human so you don't have to water as often. (you know, the place where farmers go to buy their stuff in 50 gallon drums and 50 pound bags. Sometimes irrigation equipment stores also sell that sort of stuff.)
Watch for the potting soil in the spring at Costco. The price is really good but they will only carry it for a few weeks. It's not an item that is always there.
i spotted an ad in the local free classified paper for free horse manure, but it was pretty fresh stuff, not really composted very much, so i haven't decided whether to go for that or not yet.
Be really careful with horse manure. A lot of hay and fields are sprayed with Grazon, and that passes thru the horse and stays in the manure for a couple of years. Grazon will kill your vegie plants. I cant even count the number of gardens that have been totally ruined from this. I use horse manure from my own horses, but they are only fed alfalfa, and alfalfa is never sprayed with Grazon, as it will kill it.
like many things it seems the price of potting soil is skyrocketing. over the weekend i spotted a 40 lb. bag at a local nursery for 35 dollars! granted, it was top of the line stuff, but geez...
what's a good alternative for a fairly large volume raised bed garden? topsoil? used mushroom compost?
one of the things i planned to try is this, but that will only help somewhat.
This might help, a bale of compressed Promix peat based medium runs around $15 at many home supply centers. I then add 1 cup of Epsoma plant(or best suited)tone granule fertilizer per 5 gal bucket of Promix; Home Dept or Amazon for the Epsoma.
This gives me roughly 80 lbs. of really good soil for around $25, been growing really nice tomatoes with this combo; as the peat based blends are amended for ph in the factory.
I've been adding various material to the bottom of my planting areas, both in-ground and in large pots. In the bottom I'll put cut up sticks from cut-off branches along with some straw, pulled weeds, leaves and grass from mowing. Makes my purchased bags of potting mix go twice as far.
The term for making these raised beds with layers that decompose into great soil is "hugelkultur" and it's been done for thousands of years. Great way to recycle material and I like knowing it came from my yard with no weedkiller in/on it.
I'm doing only container gardening this year. I used all my old soil from containers I grew in last year, combined it in equal proportions to a new bag of potting soil, my own compost and added a few handfuls of perlite per container. So far everything is growing wonderfully and I didn't have to buy more than one bag of soil.
Think it is too late to start tomatoes?
We are in Sarasota area gulf coast of FL and the tomatoes here at farmer’s market or grocery are the pits
Think it is too late to start tomatoes?
We are in Sarasota area gulf coast of FL and the tomatoes here at farmer’s market or grocery are the pits
yes, it is too late for down here..(I'm about an hour south of you)..start tomato seeds in Sept...small potted tomato plants can be started up until about Feb. or March..and remember....EVERYTHING down here in south
Florida appreciates a little shade in the afternoon..our sun is brutal in the afternoon..
I had some delicious tomatoes this year grown in earthboxes and fabric pots..(water both every day)..I only use Mother Earth Terracraft potting mix...$25 for a 2 cubic foot bag...but well worth it...find it at a hydroponics store or Amazon..there are several stores in Sarasota that should have it..well worth the money because it has all the nutrients and minerals and it is fast draining..hence the need for watering every day..
you can also order it from Ace hardware and pick it up at their store when it comes in..
ps...you will still need to fertilize the plants after a few weeks or so..use organic..
Last edited by double6's; 05-19-2022 at 07:21 AM..
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