From left to right: Fafard 3B Fafard 3B 1 bag 3B + 1 bag pine bark fines 1 bag 3B + 1 bag pine bark fines 1 bag 3B + 2 bags of pine bark fines 1 bag 3B + 2 bags of pine bark fines 70% coconut coir + 30% perlite (I normally don't start any scotch bonnet pepper plants in the summer (it is too hot, buggy, and rainy) but this year thought I would give it a shot plus do more in the fall. They last longer than 1 season. We don't get freezes.) Here is just a sampling of some of them. Fafard 3B --great right out of the bag Actually had flowers and now fruit way ahead of others by 7 or 8 days. They have the greatest height and most dense foliage. One of the 4 plants I did with 2 to 1 ratio (PB to 3B) is just as tall and full but one is much shorter for some reason. I expect all of the extra pine bark component ones to do well. The 2 PB to 1 Fafard 3B ratio should be good over the long haul. (They also make a mix called Fafard 52 which I only was able to find once. It was 60% bark.) Fafard 3B is 45% peat and 30% pine bark (one site said 25 % pine bark). I am hoping this also will hold up well --I have used peat based mixes with no pine bark with good results so the pine bark should make it even better as the mix degrades. Coir is plugging along--not quite up to speed with the others but still doing OK. It is the final one of the group. The transplants seedlings I did in coir did awful. There are very good potting mixes on the market and pre mixed makes it super easy . Or buy your own ingredients and mix yourself--that can work equally as well too. Your choice. For many annuals like vegetables --longevity of the mix if you are dumping in raised bed after one season or not reusing is not all that crucial as long as the mix is well draining but nutrient retentive as well. L.O. Can you post pics of your vegetables in the gritty mix? How many times do you expect to reuse?

I have never baked or done anything to sterilize my potting soil before using it for my own purposes, and I have never had any real problems. I think for the most part it is sterile when you get it. In college I remember using steam to sterilize soil that we were reusing in the greenhouse rose beds...but that was because it was used:) I know that a lot of people do use special seed starting soil mix, but I always just use Pro-Mix potting soil. I;m sure some folks will tell you to use seed starting mix, and others will say it doesn't really matter (like me!), but what it comes down to is what you personally prefer. Why not try a little experiment and start some in the finer mix and others in regular mix...and see if it makes a difference to you! I just find it easier to use one kind, and I buy the huge 3.8cu ft bails.

Never add sand to clay soils. You'll end up with something more akin to cement. Sand is useful only when you actually replace most of the clay with sand. DaisyDW is right: organic matter is the ultimate amendment for clay soils. I'd disagree with her on the addition of dolomite, however. There's nothing in dolomite (magnesium + calcium) that will do anything to improve clay soils, but it can sure increase your pH. That's something you don't want to do unless a professional soil test indicates that you need to. She may have been thinking of gypsum (sulfur + calcium), which is often touted as a 'clay buster'. It won't do the trick, either, but it won't raise the pH. (Sodic clay soils can be improved by gypsum, but you don't have that kind of chemistry in Knoxville.) It is very difficult to alter the soil conditions of a site. That is, unless you are willing to maintain it on a regular basis. I have very heavy clay soils, but they are not wet. The front yard used to drain slowly, but we fixed that with some sub-surface drainage tile. We then amended our planting beds with lots and lots of organic material from various sources. We have to add a heavy mulch of OM every year. I've come to love our clay! Your idea of amending for your lavender on a hole-by-hole basis won't work for very long. You will create a bathtub effect. Water will pool in the planting hole because it cannot escape quickly through the clay. Lavender requires excellent drainage, period. One of the first steps of good landscape planning is to select plants that will do well in the given site. There are some things we can do to alter, change, and improve the situation but oftentimes those fixes are temporary, at best. Know the characteristics of the site, understand limitations, and select your plants accordingly.

OZ, find out where local farmers buy their fertilizer, or see if there is a greenhouse supply company near you. If you can locate those businesses, you can buy agricultural perlite in the jumbo size bags for a very reasonable price. I buy composted bark fines by the yard, but if you are in an apartment, you probably don't have room to store that much bark. I prefer not to use peat because it retains too much water, so I don't use commercial potting mixes. I mix fir bark, perlite, and coarse sand for my potting mix. My peppers seem happy with it. If you go to a gravel yard, you can probably talk them into selling you a gunny sack full of sand for cheap. I bought a 10 yard dump truck full--probably not going to work in an apartment. Maybe a landscape bark yard would sell you a bag full of bark. They normally sell it by the yard, but always seem to be run by nice folks.