My mix is a variation of Al's and I have to agree with you, Phil, the mix is like magic. I'm sure mine isn't as good, but it is, at the least, a drastic improvement upon the bags of potting soil I used last year. Thanks so much for the recipe.

I too have had excellent results from Al's container mix the last two years and have mix up batch already this year.

I am newbie at container gardening and have to do so this year as our soil quality is very poor. Can anyone share the mix for Al's Mix. Thanks!!

Lady here is Al's recipe cut and pasted from the attached link. The link is long but well worth reading several times.

I'll give two recipes. I usually make big batches.

3 parts pine bark fines
1 part sphagnum peat (not reed or sedge peat)
1-2 parts perlite
garden lime
controlled release fertilizer
micro-nutrient powder (substitute: small amount of good, composted manure

Big batch:

3 cu ft pine bark fines (1 big bag)
5 gallons peat
5 gallons perlite
1 cup lime (you can add more to small portion if needed)
2 cups CRF
1/2 cup micro-nutrient powder or 1 gal composted manure

Small batch:

3 gallons pine bark
1/2 gallon peat
1/2 gallon perlite
handful lime (careful)
1/4 cup CRF
1 tsp micro-nutrient powder or a dash of manure ;o)

Here is a link that might be useful: The Link

FYI: I just wanted to mention that there was an error in Al's original post that he corrected later in the thread. The basic ratio should be 5:1:1 (bark/peat/perlite), not 3:1:1, as stated above. (Refer to the original thread, the first of three, about 2/3 of the way down, for further clarification.)