I feel like I paid my dues during all those years I used what I thought was the right medium, and I struggled to make it work for my plants, and for myself. Along the way, I tried just about everything anybody recommended, lost a ton of plants, was not happy with my level of success... and my biggest mistake, I now realize, was in not asking "how?" and "why?" a lot sooner.
Part of the problem, I think, is that the basics of plant growth and the relationship between soil, water, and plants is not generally known throughout the gardening world. No one ever talks about the great differences between growing in the ground and growing within the confined space of containers. All that knowledge, it seems, is relegated to technically written garden books that delve deeper into the plant sciences than we really need.
We just need to know the basics of that science, and Al puts it all so nicely into one article that speaks in layman's terms. And once I read that article, I finally got it! It was a defining moment in my life of gardening. I love plants and I love to grow them, but I don't want to be bogged down in mediocre. I don't want to blindly follow in a pack... I want to learn, because knowledge is key! :-)
The most important points are... understanding that growing in containers differs vastly from growing in the garden, understanding the concept of the 511 and the gritty mixes, and knowing what each ingredient used brings to the mix. Once you have all that sorted out, and you have a handle on what constitutes proper watering technique, you're good to go!
I think I lessened the learning curve a bit by reading over the main article as many times as it took to get it all straight... and by having a previous amount of knowledge on plant materials and watering.
When I first began mixing and using the gritty mix, I confess to adding a handful or two of regular potting soil to each batch... it helped me get a handle on moisture, and if you knew the dry wasteland I have to deal with indoors, you'd understand why I did it! I kind of eased myself into using the gritty mix.
Like Al says, after a while you'll be able to eyeball the ingredients when mixing a batch, and you'll know what ingredients you need at what ratio. You might even do as I do... tweak the mix to suit the individual plant type or environment.
It's so great to finally have the knowledge to reach the level of growing success I knew I was capable of! It's just such a shame so much fallacy and misinformation still float around within the gardening world. If the basic facts and logic of container growing were more well known, we'd be able to buy large bags of prepared Al's 511 or Al's Gritty Mix... and we wouldn't worry about a learning curve... it would all be common knowledge!
But I digress... in our "pack", we all walk side by side, happy in the knowledge we're doing what our plants would do, if they could! Al might lead us, but a good teacher walks with his students, and doesn't get too far ahead. :-)
Q