Soil for Containers
You find soil in you yard, in other containers, and out when you are walking the road that could realistically be good to use in your container gardening- but how are you going to know whether this is the right soil for your specific gardening needs? Let's look a little closer into the attributes needed for healthy container soil, and where you can find the best soil for your container planting.

Posted Thursday, April 6, 2006

The health of your plant is going to depend on what type of soil you are using. Does this soil have the nutrients needed for a plant to grow, or does it contain unwanted chemicals that can be harmful to your plants? Many types of potting soil contain only organic and drainage type materials. The materials that makes up most potting soils currently are moss, vermiculite and perlite, with little or no actual soil in the mix. Some mixes will also have types of bark and fibers that hold moisture for your plants. Because many types of potting soil do not contain actual soil, they are only good for starting plants, otherwise plants cannot survive for long without the needed nutrients that natural soil can provide.

A year in a container with commercial potting soil will cause the mixture to compact and stiffen which could kill your plant. Mixing natural soil in with commercial potting soil is a good idea from the beginning.

Buying sterile soil is just that- buying soil that has been sterilized by boiling water or steam to kill off disease and microorganisms. Killing off diseases before planting your seeds is important if you have problems with them in your greenhouse or home. Sterilizing the soil prevents any seedlings from dying off fast from these diseases. If you want to sterilize your own soil this is an easy process. First bake the soil in a pan in your oven for about half an hour. Temperatures over two hundred degrees throughout the center of the soil will ensure that you have killed most all diseases that can be transferred through soil.

If you are hard up for soil you are better off to go dig in the yard and to put a little grass and weeds in your container than you are to go down by the roadside to get dirt. Soil down by the highways or roads near you will be filled with toxins which will prevent healthy growth in any plant!

You can make your own potting soil mixture by using a few basic ingredients; soil, plain sterile black nutrient rich soil, organic materials such as peat moss or bark which hold in water, and any other type of material that will assist in draining water away from the top of the plant such as perlite.