This may not be helpful if you only buy @ Walmart, but after years of trying various potting mixes w/ usually less than stellar results, I only use Whitney Farms organic potting mix now. I buy from a local nursery; $6/1cu.ft. or $9/2cu.ft. bags. I use it for everything! Indoor plants, some seed starting, outdoor planters (mixed w/ compost). I have uniformly good results using this no matter what I'm planting or growing!

miracle grow potting mix, just the regular kind not the one with the moisture control.

I get either 1 cubic foot or 2 cubic foot bags.

Been using it for 9 years now, wouldn't use anything else.

Fran

Miracle Gro. Now and forever.

I'm assuming that's miracle gro garden soil. correct? which is good for flowers and vegetables. They also have one for shrubs. It says it will feed slow release plant food upto three months. If you have some soil left over and you use it next year, does that mean plant food will be vanished?

Many people here recommend to give it a good drink, some even put in bucket and soak it with water, I think this creates problems and soil doesn't stay somewhat loose.

If you put soil directly from the bag into milk container and then just spray it with water, I have noticed the soil doesn't become rock. what is your experience?

No! Not Miracle Grow garden soil, that is a soil amendment for the garden. You want a product forumulated for use in pots....potting soil or mix, or it could read container mix. Any that say garden are wrong....

And if you are in Walmart, stay away from Hyponex if they have that brand.

I think Fran & Bakemom are recommending just regular Miracle
Gro potting mix. I've included a link here so you can see what to look for at your Walmart.

Also when I am sowing my seeds I fill up my containers 1st, place them in my kitchen sink and spray with the hose sprayer until the soil is fully saturated. With a peat base soil it takes awhile to get everything fully wet. Though once wet it should hold moisture well for awhile. Also a peat base soil should not become rock hard on you as long as there is adequate moisture.

~stlgirl

Here is a link that might be useful: Miracle Gro Potting Mix

Sorry, I was so startled at the garden soil part of your question I didn't answer the rest, too afraid you would leave and go shopping, come home with the wrong thing.

Garden soil or products to be used in the garden are not right for containers. Even the best garden soil in the world will not be satisfactory in pots/containers - in containers where the need for aeration is key to good root development.

Wetting a good quality potting soil will not cause problems, it will help by reducing excess air pockets and settling (not compacting) your mix. The key here is use a mix intended for use in containers, I'm beginning to guess you haven't....

You cannot overwater or overwet a good potting soil that has been placed into a container with good drainage holes. It has a saturation point, after which any excess will run freely out the bottom...trust me, washington coast is the rain capital of the world :) A good quaility potting mix will not become overly compact, not even with time and repeated waterings.

And the plant food won't vanish if you have leftover product....it's time released by means of water, every time you water a tiny bit of the fertilizer is released to become available to roots....stored in the package, no water running though it, and the time release pellets are 'on hold'.

Perfect picture of the bags, regardless of the size, it says right on the front of the bag

MIRACLE GROW

POTTING MIX.

Fran

Thank you so much everyone for being so helpful.

One more question, can you also use potting mix in plastic seed starters such as below? It won't fall in container category and hence the question. Sometimes I like to plant things like peas in these divided plastic seed trays which are easy to transplant.

http://www.dirtworks.net/Images/hardgoods/806flats.gif

Anything that is enclosed is a container, whether a seed starting tray, nursery pot, or something you've recycled from your kitchen. It 'contains' the sowing medium or plant and its roots. :)

If you are using the seed cells outside, then yes you can use potting mix without a second thought.

In fact, you can use them with potting mix rather than seed starting mix indoors too, but depending on your humidity, air circulation, and experience, damp off (fungal disease of seedlings in an environment not sterile) can be troublesome for some.

I bought Miracle gro potting mix and I now can see what you are talking about. Thank you for troubleshooting my problem. Keep my fingers crossed. I planted some more tomato seeds. You guys been terrific.

That's what we are here for, been there, done that, made the goofs, learned from our own experiences and those of others, and we pass on what we have learned to all the newbies so that they can learn from us, and themselves and pass on their knowledge to the next newbies that come.

Whew, didn't mean that to become a long winded ramble, but am sure you get what I mean.

You'll be fine start those tomatoes now. Just remember that when all the store bought ones look so much bigger and your's don't, DO NOT PANIC, REPEAT, DO NOT PANIC, over your's being so small.

Your seedlings are all very busy, far busier than those larger ones. They are growing the most beautiful looking root system that you will ever see and when you plant them out, they will continue to develop those roots and will shoot up in their small height very quickly.

"Our WS seedlings, our babies" grow up real fast once planted out and will not only catch up but out surpass any and all store bought seedlings and plants and be far healthier as well.

Fran

sorry i posted this in other thread by mistake.

Miracle gro potting mix definitely looks lot different than what I had before. It doesn't seem like it will form hard rock, water should also drain much better as morz explained. The only thing I noticed is it doesn't seem like regular soil so I'm not sure how the seeds will germinate but I trust the experts, if they say it will work then it should work. It's amazing some of these people Bakemom, Morz etc etc were able to spot my problem over internet, like they say, they have been there, done that. You ask and they will help you. I'm not sure if adding some fine garden soil to potting mix will be better?
Question, when you use miracle gro and give it a good drink as suggested, how often you will have to water. or you basically look at the container and if the soil doesn't seem to dry don't water, water only when it looks dry. correct? Hopefully the condensation, evaporation cycle should retain the water in the container for long time, is this correct?

Orange bag organic Miracle Grow smells heavenly. The consistency seems like even finer coco mulch. But, it was the only set of seeds that did not germinate (Delphiniums). Absolutely nothing, also noted that of the 6 pots that I put mixed early seeds in, verbascum, linaria, poppies, etc. those are very small and working hard to grow

I use the potting soil at CVS, small bags, very loose, easy to carry, bout $3.99 here, always a sale and sometimes bogo. I also use soil from American Dollar $2.00 for a pretty big bag. Have not had problems and they are nice and puffy. These places are close with gas situation and usually on my way for other things. American Dollar has a moisturizing/fertilizing soil that has my maters looking pretty good. One of these mixes had mushrooms in it that was somewhat amusing and did not bother the plants.

No, don't add garden soil to the potting/container mix - we suggested you buy it because you'll have better results with it. It's the texture it is for a reason, and that reason being its better in pots and containers - as is. Its formulated to not compact, drain well while retaining some moisture. Leave your garden soil in the garden - the two aren't interchangeable. Adding fine garden soil won't make your container mix better, it will make not work out as well and will be detrimental to root development. I can't think of a single potting soil company out of dozens right now that has any actual soil in their formula, and because it isn't helpful in pots and containers.

Your seeds will germinate and be happy in the potting mix. The roots of your seedlings will have easy work of growing downward and outward in the soilless mix and will be bigger and better developed as a result.

How long it will stay moist has much to do with your climate and weather conditions. They will dry out much faster after you have seedlings with roots and the tops are off than they will covered and still germinating. Get an idea of how weighty one of your containers feels after you've watered and prepared it, if you can't tell be looking at it, pick it up, you'll know by the weight if its drying out.

Great tips Morz..you should write a book on Winter sowing. Amazing how much research you guys have done!!! Mind boggling. Posts are so precise and packed with wealth of knowledge.

JD

It's practice, and some of us have been gardening a few decades now :) Many here sow a wider variety of things and countless more containers than I do...a book if forthcoming should really be from Trudi :)

The 'garden soil in the garden', 'potting or container mix in pots and containers' holds true for all types of container growing, not just winter sowing. That will be more clear to you when you have a season behind you.

The potting mix being loose and fluffy, will the roots bind to the mix? Otherwise when you transplant them, you run the risk of exposing them and they may break off.

Since there is a slow release fertilizer already in the potting mix, when do you fertilize them? After how many days of transplanting them?

If you planted your seeds in Dec or Jan in a potting soil that had slow release fertilizer in it, that fertilizer is most likely gone by the time your seeds sprout. I start fertilizing as soon as a couple of sets of true leaves start showing. I wouldn't bother with potting soil with fertilizer in it for winter sowing but it's hard to find potting soil without it. I've read where that fertilizer is supposedly harmful to your seeds but I've never found that to be the case.

can't get it in Walmart, but the best I have found is Fafard. I find it in a a local gardening store, which I prefer patronizing anyway. (jobs at decent wages, owned by a woman, instead of discriminating against women, as walmart does)

ellen