You would think that something labels as garden soil would be something that would grow plants by itself but the directions for Miracle Gro Garden Soil say to mix it with other soil 50:50 with the soil in the garden. It may be that the synthetic fertilizer in that product is a bit too strong to be used alone and needs dilution.

This company does not make any product I would use and I find them to be too expensive anyway.

kimmq is kimmsr

Oh Great ! Well it's too late ! I've already prepared the bed, mixed the Miracle Gro Garden Soil with compost, and planted my Iris rhizomes. I had no choice.

I hope they do ok or I'll be digging up a lot of iris rhizomes !!!

I'm not concerned about the Price of the product, I'm concerned about the ingredients of the product and whether it will support growth of my plants.

I don't think $4.97 is over-priced for a large bag of this stuff !

Finally I have found a label to read and that label tells me that this Miracle Gro Garden Soil is not soil and it is simply peat moss, sphagnum moss, processed forest products, coir, compost, and fertilizer, in other words potting soil.

kimmq is kimmsr

Sounds like they are all good ingredients for the garden and propagation of Plants .

How much did you use? An inch, 6 inches? I bet your irises will do OK in that if it wasn't too awful deep. There are plenty of examples of plants growing in practically 100% organic matter. Some of the best volunteers I've had sprouted out of compost piles. Over time the worms and other critters will mix that organic matter into the soil below. The only possible issue is the fertilizer being too strong up front, but you should know right away.

You should generally mix compost with soil though.

Ok, here's what I did. I had an area of the garden that was nothing but a bunch of pachysandra groundcover. I ripped it all out, and what I found underneath was stones. What was underneath the stones was some sort of "tarp" I guess to prevent the weeds. Well, there was no way I was going to be able to shovel up tons of stones and rip of an entire large piece of "tarp" which was on top of the soil. So I shoveled up the stones I could, and left a lot of the tarp where it was. I emptied two bags of Compost down on top of the tarp, followed by two bags of MG Garden Soil. In between I put down a little Bone meal, leveled out the soil and began planting my Iris rhizomes. The next day when I went out to look at the area, it had all dried, since it was pretty damp when emptied out of the bags, and it actually looked like "dirt". So far so good. But to be on the safe side, I contacted one of the Iris Nurseries I do business with where I buy my Iris rhizomes and told them what I did. They said there definitely will not be a problem, as the Iris rhizomes appreciate a lot of organic matter and they will perform quite well. They only advised Not to add any additional fertilizer.

Well, you've succeeded in making a very shallow soil with no access to subsoil. Again, I don't know where you are and what climate you have, but you probably should be prepared to A) watch your phizomes float out when it rains B) be prepared to water because your mixture probably won't have a lot of water holding capacity and the iris can't reach into the subsoil for water.

I am in Southern New Jersey - Zone 7A

Hmm, you may not have to worry about drying out then :) And once they root in, they should basically stay in place. We had a severe thunderstorm last night...buckets of rain. I just went outside and had to do remedial recovering and replacement on my Dec planted crocus and camassia bulbs that I planted in highly organic soil (where tree stumps are/where rotting out). I would imagine you will do some of that too.

We just had a heavy period of rain ---- I just went outside to check the Iris bed. All of the iris are still in place with no damage, and they are not "floating" away, which is a good sign. Many of the Iris are "Beardless" iris, where the rhizome is planted 1-2" beneath the ground. The others are "Bearded" iris where the rhizomes are planted with the tops exposed to the sun.

I have found, over many years of growing Iris, that they do not like a soil that has too much organic matter which holds too much moisture and causes rot in the Rhizomes., but they also do not do well if the soil is too dry. Iris Rhizomes also need to be exposed some, buried too deeply and the plants just will not flower.

kimmq is kimmsr

As I mentioned, my "Beardless Iris" are planted 1-inch below the ground - and the "Tall Bearded Iris" are planted with their rhizomes exposed.