Garden Soil

matt1973

11 years ago

Greetings all,

New gardener here need some advice.
Looking to plant some veggies this fall (tomatoes, cucs, squashes). I'm setting up a beginner raised bed about 18Cf. I need some help filling it up.
Looking for the cheapest option available for a working garden. Talking with the people at Ace hardware they are suggesting filling it with 3 parts topsoil 1 part "garden soil mix", or 3 parts top soil 1 part peat moss. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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Comments (8)

matt1973
Original Author
11 years ago
Located in Jacksonville BTW
zzackey
11 years ago
I live an hour from Jax. you are wanting to plant summer veggies. Now is the time to plant collards,radishes, lettuce, parsley, broccoli, cauliflower, English peas,mustards,turnips and any other cold weather crop. White potatoes should be planted on Feb.14. Get seed potatoes from a feed store if you want to plant them. The veggies you want to plant should wait until at least March 1st to plant. Welcome to Florida! I live just over the border in Georgia. I am a Master Gardener and I would love to answer any question you have! Please email me at zackeysmom@yahoo.com. Please contact your local agricultural center for more info. If you are in Duval or Clay county they have an awesome amount of great gardening classes that only cost $10 and that includes a great lunch!
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The reason you can't trust the volume of nursery pots, Jim, is that those black nursery containers are all "nominal" sizes. That means the volume of the pots is vaguely related to the stated gallon size. A "5 galllon" nursery can is 10.5 in. diameter and 12 in. tall. My online calculator says that is only 3.75 gallons if you pot 2 inches from the top of the pot. That isn't large enough for any rose past the first year or so if it puts on vigorous growth. The foot stomping is an old landscaper practice. It's just a cheap way of determining settlement without taking the time to water a plant in. I wouldn't do it. Water your plant in to settle the soil. I've seen people planting roses into dry potting soil. I wouldn't do it. Many potting soils have peat moss which sheds water once dry. Those of you in climates with steady rain year round may not have this problem, but in the desert West, once peat dries out, it takes a concerted effort to dampen it. I open the bag of soil, stick the hose in, fill it up and mix. Then I pot with dripping wet potting soil and also water it in. It's mud pies for grownups. It assures that the soil comes to the optimal height in the pot (about 2 inches down) and fills major air pockets. I unpot roses all the time and have never found an air pocket. I don't drop pots on purpose. Our summers are too hot to grow a lot of roses in pots well. We can't keep the roots cool enough through June and July. I overpot extensively. A 3 x 3 rose goes in an ornamental pot that is 22-24 inches high. I use various decorative pots from the big box store and always buy the biggest size. Why? They bring to rose up to height and look more in scale with a landscape. It's funny how a pot looks big in a store and miniature in the garden. Also, with those big pots I'm approaching the 15 gallon actual size I find any healthy rose needs. I do a seat of the pants volume-of-cone calculation to guesstimate the volume of the pot, taking into consideration the potting soil is probably 3 inches from the top of the container. Here's a nice online volumetric calculator. http://www.online-calculators.co.uk/volumetric/conevolume.php
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Seriously? Garden soil comes from the garden :-) Potting soil is a mix of non-soil ingredients, typically with a peat, coir or bark base. Maybe what you are really asking is the difference between what is sometimes referred to as planting soil and potting soil. Planting soils are typically soil-based (loam, sometimes 'topsoil', whatever they may consider that to be) products, usually with some sort of organic matter additives, that are intended to be used in an inground gardening situation as an amendment or for raised beds. A potting soil should be a durable, highly textured product, often with mineral additives to assist with drainage. White particles would indicate perlite or pumice - vermiculite is sort of a pale grayish-brown. And not very good for assisting with drainage
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Soil-less mediums work best for containers because they maintain viable structure and porosity. Soils and soil based mediums work in the ground because they become part of a much larger system. Once you take real soil out of that system....it no longer functions. Soil-less mediums (potting soils) provide anchorage, plenty of good air spaces (a requirement for germination, rooting, and normal plant development), and available water. Sand, silt, and clay are all of the soil components that work great FOR us in the garden, but AGAINST us in containers. Poking holes with a solid object compacts the soil around the holes. True aeration would remove columns of soil (like a core aerator for lawns). Best to incorporate something that provides nice pore spaces throughout the entire volume within the container. Seeds, also, need oxygen in order to progress properly, as well as moisture. That's why a soil-less medium IS ideal, if you are germinating seeds in containers. Most (so called) germination mixes are made of very finely milled peat moss, along with vermiculite and perlite. Those ingredients work to provide a steady supply of available moisture and oxygen. When I'm germinating seeds, I fill most of the seed flats with a very coarse textured potting medium, followed by a layer of the germination mix. After sowing the seed, I'll cover the seeds (if required) with more of the germination mix and use my misting nozzle to saturate the entire medium. The germinating mix insures that the seeds will have contact with the moisture providing peat. By the time the seedlings have begin to grow a little, their roots enter the highly porous medium.....then LOOK OUT! ;-) My potting mix is made of composted bark fines, peat moss, perlite, coarse granite grit (like for poultry), and Turface.
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pnbrown
11 years ago
We are having good success growing in-ground in florida sand by amending with azomite and humate. For nitrogen you can buy organic nitrogen at the box stores. As it happens there is a humate supplier in Jax (mined not far away), humate international, picking it up there saves the shipping, I have been there and used it. The GA manafee humate is a bit better but the Jax stuff is not bad.

There is an azomite supplier in daytona, that's a bit of a drive but if you have reason to be there then might as well get it. Azomite is absolutely the thing for mineralizing florida sand, the citrus industry is beginning to catch onto it.
Carol love_the_yard (Zone 9A Jacksonville, FL)
11 years ago
Zackey wrote: "If you are in Duval or Clay county they have an awesome amount of great gardening classes that only cost $10 and that includes a great lunch!"

Welcome to Jacksonville, Matt! Zackey is right. Below is a link to the January 2013 Duval County Extension newsletter. The Day of Gardening event on February 23 is shown in the lower right-hand corner of page one.

I don't know anything about vegetable gardening. :( I know a little about flower/ornamental gardening and would be glad to help if you have any questions.

Carol in Jacksonville

Here is a link that might be useful: The Extension Connection - January 2013
rrleesb
11 years ago
I got the soil to fill my raised beds from mulch masters. I believe I used the #3 mix. 230 Lee Rd Jacksonville, FL 32225
(904) 727-1100.

I'm over in the Arlington area by JU. Just getting my garden ready for my spring planting.
shavedmonkey (Harvey in South Fl.)Z10b
11 years ago
pnbrown,
how much humane and azomite is needed? For me to get my head around it, for example, how much to add for a 8 gal nursery bucket with good nutritious soil. Have you used a liquid preparation of Norwegian seaweed juice? Named Maxi-crop. The active ingredient is humic acid, a root stimulus. I mostly use it on my orchids but all plants like it. Great for germinating seed.
thanks for your help.

sory for the deletes below. each time I tried to send it I got a message faied. Oh well...

This post was edited by shavedmonkey on Thu, Jan 24, 13 at 15:29
shavedmonkey (Harvey in South Fl.)Z10b
11 years ago
delete

This post was edited by shavedmonkey on Thu, Jan 24, 13 at 15:27
shavedmonkey (Harvey in South Fl.)Z10b
11 years ago
delete

This post was edited by shavedmonkey on Thu, Jan 24, 13 at 15:25

Garden Soil

Comments (8)

matt1973
Original Author

zzackey

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pnbrown

Carol love_the_yard (Zone 9A Jacksonville, FL)

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Garden Soil

Comments (8)

matt1973Original Author

zzackey

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pnbrown

Carol love_the_yard (Zone 9A Jacksonville, FL)

rrleesb

shavedmonkey (Harvey in South Fl.)Z10b

shavedmonkey (Harvey in South Fl.)Z10b

shavedmonkey (Harvey in South Fl.)Z10b

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matt1973
Original Author