I use a bagged potting soil because a) I'm lazy and it's easier than mixing my own, b)I don't have room to mix and store my own so I can buy it as I need it, c) it happens to be just as cost effective in my situation to buy it already mixed, and d) I am lucky to be able to get a very high quality mix.....much better than a lot of the popular national brands. But, it also has a very limited local west coast distribution, so my offering the brand name wouldn't have much value for the majority of readers :-) However, if given the choice between a Pro-mix or any MG product as my only store-bought alternatives, I'd go with one of Al's recipes.

Watering is going to be a critical factor with ANY type of potting soil - homemade or purchased. You just have to be aware of the moisture capacity and drainage of the mix you select and monitor accordingly.

Hi, Alice!
I use a mix based on Al's mix.
Bark, perlite, grit (pumice, gravel, et cetera).
I don't use any bagged "soils" that contain peatmoss.
All of the ingredients I need for a durable and free-draining mix are locally available. When using bark, pumice, and perlite, make sure to rinse your materials to get rid of the fine particles. If you want your mix to retain moisture, screen your materials down to 1/16 - 1/8 of an inch. No need to clog things up with peatmoss.

I don't make large batches of mix, so the cost of perlite and pumice isn't prohibitive. Micro Bark costs $8 for 2 cu. feet; less if you buy more.

The last pic is from Friday - I mixed a batch for a fern re-potting. I added pine/fir bark fines in place of peatmoss for moisture.

Josh
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I'm doing veggies, so I think soil structure/aeration may not be as important in the short term.

I'm trying Al's mix, but I'm bad at watering and that is causing problems.

If you are 'bad at watering' might I suggest self watering containers? Earth Boxes (bare bones, not the kits) are reasonably priced. You can also call Gardener Supply co and ask them for the containers they sell as part of their 'tomato success kit'. Just the containers though, you don't need the 'kit' (kit=potting mix, fertilizer, mulch covers, wheels (unless you want them) and stakes/supports for taller plants (they are flimsy)). On this forum there are also plans for DIY SWC that many have used.

SWC make keeping up with watering much easier for those who tend to come home to wilted plants in traditional containers.

As far as aeration/structure not being as important for veggies as many other plants I am going to kind of agree while disagreeing :) Many veggies use a lot of water, particularly when mature/producing fruit etc. This means they will draw the water out of the mix and restore aeration faster than some other plants.

They generally are capable of adapting and doing well in less aerated mixes, but they still do best with well aerated mixes. One way to find this out the hard way is to put a young transplant into a heavier mix and then have the skies open up and rain for a few days. They visibly suffer from the lack of air around their roots while a well aerated mix would maintain air spaces even with the continual water.

This isn't to say a decent store bought mix can't grow great veggies. The problem is finding a decent store bought mix and having it remain decent from one season to the next. The movement to using less peat and more 'composted forest' stuff is a red light indicator that what the manufacturers are putting in the bag isn't likely to be consistent from year to year and perhaps not even batch to batch. Someone on the west coast might use a bag and be thrilled, but someone on the east coast buys the same thing, but isn't pleased because the ingredients came from a different source.

There are some brands such as Fafard that seem to offer good quality control on their products, but you aren't likely to find them at garden centers and when you find them, they usually cost a premium. The stuff at most big box garden centers is iffy at best.

Some of my plants are in self-watering containers, mostly homemade.

I did add a little extra peat moss to the batch I made recently. However, even in the self-watering container, it seems to dry out a bit.

With the self-watering containers, compaction isn't as much of an issue, since there isn't watering from above.

What I'd like is to have something that I can water every 2-3 days and not have issues with things drying out. Deeper containers would probably help.

I think I'm going to do a couple regular containers and a couple self-watering containers and put one with Al's mix and the other with nursery brand potting mix from the "upscale" nursery in town.

Alice

Gardengal, I live in PNW.
Could you please share brand of mix that you are using?
Thank you

briergardener, you have mail :-))

Greenman...Will this work for flower pots on the patio? Do you use equal parts of each of those 3, bark, perlite, and pumice? I love that you showed pictures!! Thanks.