Greenhouse: Judy's Jungle Goes Under Wraps...., 0 by judycooksey

judycooksey wrote:
Here is a copy of a posting I made last year when I was mixing my potting soil:

judycooksey
Pocahontas, TN
Zone 7b
Apr 25, 2005
7:25 AM

From Better Homes & Gardens
New Complete Guide To Gardening Copyright 1997

A Simple Soil Mix Recipe

1 part good loamy garden soil or commercial topsoil
1 part organic matter (peat moss, leaf mold, compost)
1 part sand, perlite or vermiculite
¼ part bonemeal or rock phosphate (for phosphorus)
¼ part greensand, granite dust or langbeinite (for potassium)

Container gardeners often develop their own secret recipes for the growing medium for their pots. If you’re an inexperienced container gardener, try this recipe

The soil in the mix holds nutrients and water and buffers changes in pH and nutrients. The organic matter improves texture and hold water and nutrients. The sand, perlite or vermiculite encourages good drainage: however, sand is heavy and may make moving large containers difficult.

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Notes From Judy:

Greensand is suppose to be great for clay soil – search the Internet for more information.

1 part sand, IMO, is way too heavy, especially since most commercial Topsoils now contain sand. I would cut that in half and possibly make that ½ part be vermiculite since quality perlite is hard to find. Most of what you can buy in a “big box store” floats to the top when you water the plants.

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For the batch of soil I made up specifically for the Datura & Brugs……

I started out with Jungle Pro Mix (no fertilizer - too light weight) potting soil, mix it 1:1 with 40 lb bag of Wal-Mart Potting Soil (no fertilizer - too heavy with sand) added a heaping shovel of peat moss, 2 cups lime and 2 cups 13-13-13, plus 1 cup of time release 20-20-20 and a cup of Alfalfa pellets and a bowl (about 4 cups) of vermiculite.

*** I’ve never used this mix before so let me pot up some Datura & Brugs and let you know how they are doing before you try the above, it may kill the Brugs, looks awful strong now that I've written it down. lol lol They'll either die or grow to be 20 feet tall during one summer.

I'm off to pot up plants.

Judy
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As you can see via the pictures of the brugs, this mixture worked great. But making up the soil really worked this 60 year old woman. lol lol