Information About Soil for Containers

You find soil in you yard, in other containers, and out when you are walking the road that you think looks good to use in your container gardening but how are you going to know whether this is the right soil for your gardening needs? Let’s look a little closer about container soil needs, and where you can find the best soil for container planting.

The health of your plant is going to depend on what type of soil you are using, if this soil has the needed nutrients for the plant to grow, and if the soil has unwanted chemicals in it that can also be harmful for your plants.

Potting Soil
Many types of potting soil contain only organic materials and drainage type materials. The materials that makes up most potting soils now are moss, vermiculite and perlite, with little or no actual soil in the mix. Some mixes will also have types of bark and fibers that also hold moisture for your plants.

Because many types of potting soil do not contain soil, you can use these potting mixtures to start plants but they cannot survive for long without the needed nutrients that soil can provide as well. After a year in a container with the commercial no soil potting soil, the soil will be compact and hard which will kill off your plant. Mixing your ‘good’ soil in with commercial potting soil is a good idea from the beginning.

Sterile Soil
Buying sterile soil is just that – buying soil that has been sterilized by boiling water or steam to kill off disease and microorganisms. Killing off diseases before planting your seeds is important if you have problems with these types of diseases in your greenhouse or in your home and sterilizing the soil prevents any seedlings from dying off fast from these diseases

If you want to sterilize your own soil this is an easy process where you bake the soil in a pan in your oven for about half an hour. Temperatures over two hundred degrees through out the center of the soil will ensure that you have killed most all diseases that can be transferred through soil.

Hard up for Soil?
If you are hard up for soil you are better off to go dig in the yard and to put a little grass and weeds in your container than you are to go down by the roadside to get dirt. Soil down by the highways or roads near you will be filled with toxins which will never let your plants even get a running start from a seedling!

Making Your Own
You can make your own potting soil mixture by using three basic ingredients which are soil, plain sterile black nutrient rich soil, organic materials such as peat moss or bark to hold water in the container plant and another type of material that will also help drain water away from the top of the plant such as perlite.

This article was published by: Garden Moose.

Garden Moose is a feature contributor to Greenhouses.com a leading internet destination for gardening and greenhouse information and ideas.

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