You can, but over the course of the season it'll probably compact a bit too much. It's not a huge concern since you're growing an annual veggie, though. It should be out of the pot and it's life cycle before it's a huge issue. You can mix some perlite or vermiculite (or pine bark) in with the soil to help improve drainage and prevent heavy compaction.

Most soil starting mixes are also nearly nutrient-bare, so you'll have to check your mix and see if you need to supplement nutrients with an application.

I would add perlite and some osmocote to it but if you have to go to the store for either you might as well get the proper potting mix.

Add some good old garden soil to give it some texture.

I found a really small bag of potting soil in the garage, I am going to see how it looks if I mix it in. I also have fabulous garden soil so I will follow the advice and add a bit of that too and see how it works, if it looks too off I will probably call in a favor from a gardening buddy and have her go get me some.

Thanks!

Add some good old garden soil to give it some texture.

That's terrible advise IMO.

Add some good old garden soil to give it some texture.

That's terrible advise IMO.

Actually, taz, it isn't, at least if the soil is very loose. IME, potting soil is great for seedlings but won't hold moisture during the growing season. Dirt does! I mixed up some large pots of loose soil, compost, aged horse manure and potting mix last summer. The idea was to grow tomatoes in it, but I never got around to actually doing it. Last week, I emptied the pots full of this mixture in the garden - Seventh Heaven!

I did try the same method a coule of winter ago, when I wanted to try maters in a greenhouse. The soil was perfect in containers, though I did bury them in the dirt inside the GH. I had to water maybe once every two weeks - a half-gallon at a time, but the plants were everything I could hope for. Alas, the growing conditions (sunlight and heat) were not.

Mike

I use Pro-Mix BX for both seed starting and potting. It is excellent for both purposes. For seed starting, no fertilizer is used until a couple of sets of true leaved develop, then I fertilize very lightly. For potted plants I use a normal amount of fertilizer.

Jim

Umm. Make that "true leaves".

Jim

Thanks for the rescue WORDWIZ.
@TAZ...Look at it this way, raised beds 4x8, 4x4, 2x2 etc
are containers too, filled with garden soil. A pot is the same. The difference is that pot is mobile. Because of that, it is prefered to be light weight. So you add peat moss, perlite, more compost... to make it light weight.
But you need to refresh the pot every season, because it gets caked with lots on roots.

Using garden "dirt" for your seedlings is not a good idea. It could introduce pests and soil born diseases before the plant even gets started IMO.
Mike I'm sure you weren't thinking in this way when you posted but I forgive you. LOL!

"That's terrible advise IMO."

There is no useful information in that reply. It's just an opinion, rudely expressed, with nothing to support it.

I hope this helps you in composing future replies.

Jim

@TAZ...Look at it this way, raised beds 4x8, 4x4, 2x2 etc
are containers too

No they are not unless you line them with plastic. They breathe much better than containers. Who would make a 2x2 raised bed? I wouldn't waste the effort unless it was at least 8x8.