I just bought the same brand on sale at Home Depot. I'm pretty sure mine had a yellowish-orange label where yours has the green, but it's the same picture on front.

The wood 'chips' in mine were small, and the bag said 'forest products' (or some similar term.) I bought the last bag they had for 20 cents a qt. (a comparably decent price) and am mixing it with another bag to use in transplant containers. If the consistency is what I saw, I wouldn't worry too much. The 'chips' in mine were no bigger than 1/2" pieces - no thicker than 1/8".

Although many of the store-bought mixes are of similar consistency, they will perform just fine. What I don't like is the fertilizer that every brand had in it... "composted poultry manure". Personally, I would rather just have the forest products (partially composted wood chip fines) and add my own fertilizer. What they feed those chickens are my concern. I even got into a back-and-forth with the sales person... He said "don't worry about it... the chickens metabolize everything." UGHHH... famous last words. I then asked him if he knew what systemic pesticides were... he said that I shouldn't be concerned about that either. Someone slap me now! It's a good thing someone else needed his help, I was about to give him the 'I have no desire to give my hard earned dollars to the chicken people' speech lol.

The chicken manure (however much I detest its presence) should have enough slow-release nitrogen to further decompose the wood chips. If you find your plants are yellowish, just give them a shot of N. The wood products provide drainage and friability, and increase organic matter in your soil.

The problem I encounter is living in a rural town an hour's drive from heavier populated areas, too small to support a good nursery, and big enough that Home Depot decided to build here and crush the local nurseries and hardware stores. It's the only game in town. If you have a locally-owned nursery near you, see what mixes they have on hand and that they recommend.

This product is a soil amendment, not soil. It contains "processed forest products, peat, coir, rice hulls, and/or compost, sphagnum moss, and organic fertilizer".

Compost would have been a better use of your dollars.

kimmq is kimmsr

Rgreen48 I hear ya, this would be good if I mixed it like you did, but by itself it's no good for this year as it is, maybe in a year or two after, it will be fine, when the soil micro life has broken it down. I will have to heavly water/fertlize especially with nitrogen. My raised beds look like two nice patches of thick mulch. My beds are just about a foot tall so plants roots probably won't make it down to the native soil for a good part of their life. I will probably have to treat it like a semi-hydroponic/super well draining mix and fertlize often which I was trying to minimize. How are your plants doing with this amendment and soil you mixed it with?

Kmmq/kmmsr, it would be nice if the company would advertise as such, on the bag it says soil not soil amendment, had it said that, we would not have purchased. So it's looking like I may have to amend the soil amendment with some composted manure and provide excess nitrogen because of all the wood chips. I have bloodmeal on hand that I can throw on it.

Thanks for the feedback and I hope to salvage this problem before the outdoor growing season kicks off. I have my seedlings inside so I got to get this fixed before its time to put them out.

I just transplanted into it in the last 2 days. I mixed it at a ratio of about 1:5 with (I think the brand was Nature's Care Raised Bed Mix? I'd have to go downstairs to look.) Anyway, they were both on sale, and the small bag of Vigoro was the last they had in stock.

I plant in my native soil, and it would have been a good addition to lighten my clay, but I try not to spend money on that type of soil, or soil amendment. Unfortunately, unless you buy what is called 'Top Soil', or some of the 'Potting Soil' this 'Processed Forest Products' is what it seems most bagged mixes are using for their base ingredient.

Honestly though, while I do agree that it will take some time to break down, and I do understand that when you pay for soil you should get soil (especially when they claim it's ready to produce straight from the bag with no fertilization required,) I think that this stuff, however lacking, will be better for your raised beds than the heavy junk they sell as 'top soil'.

Perhaps a bag or 2 of the 'Top Soil' added to each of your beds will provide the consistency you were hoping for? But really, either straight compost, or composted manure would probably be best.

I wouldn't have even bought the Vigoro had it not been on sale. But really, I shouldn't say that. I buy what looks best for the price. Especially when it's in a closed bag and you don't know what you have until you spread it out. Oh, and I should say that what I got must have been last year's stock. It was completely dried out compared to the other bag of mix. Maybe it broke down some in the bag, and that's why mine looked a bit better than just wood mulch?

I think you may be making too much ado about nothing. Yes, it is not an ideal soil mix for a raised bed but I seriously doubt it will be the impediment to healthy growth you think it will be.

FWIW, I grow containerized tomatoes in a soil 'mix' that is very similar. Made by a different manufacturer (and one that I trust), this product too is intended as a an amendment or a mulch rather a straight planting mix but it works perfectly well for that purpose and produces big, wonderful healthy and fruitful tomatoes.

I would not be overly concerned about the wood products it contains and potential N tie up. The "processed wood products" are byproducts of the lumber industry and are included in an already processed/composted state. And the added fertilizer is intended to supplement what already exists in the other OM and to offset any potential N unavailability. Folks tend to freak out over what they consider to be overly barky soil mixes but these mixes have been formulated to provide good drainage while still offering decent water retention and are supplemented with various organic ferts to offset any potential nutrient issues. Bark based soil mixes are the ideal formulation for container gardening so it is not a big stretch to consider them suitable for raised bed gardening as well.

I would go ahead and try it - or at least one bed of it - as is. You may be very pleasantly surprised at the results you get.

I tend to agree with gardengal on the N issues. The added fertilizers or manure they put in these products, plus the (at least partial) composting that has already taken place should balance things out. I had a neighbor who used a lot of this stuff in her flower beds and they were very nice. I agree also with the earlier posts that it's not really soil, it's an all organic soil amendment. If I was filling a raised bed, mixing in some native soil or topsoil bags would be just the ticket.

The solution to being disappointed in bagged products is to find a torn bag and inspect the contents, and if you can't, discretely make a tiny hole through which you can pluck out a pinch of the stuff to see what it looks like. Goes for topsoil too - I've seen 'topsoil' bags that looked more like compost than the bags of compost next to them on the shelf.

I agree with gardengal. My fundamental issue is that you really have very little idea of what you are getting. Maybe it works and maybe it doesn't.

If you want to fill a raised bed with growing medium on short notice without breaking the bank, it will probably do. I would price a bulk delivery of something similar from a real nursery that you can look at first before buying bags and bags of that stuff.

We haven't even addressed the issue of why and whether you need to make raised beds in the first place, haha. Usually the question of what to put IN them comes AFTER they're all built so we don't get to talk about that one anyway.

Gardengal48, toxcrusadr, kokopellifivea thanks for all your inputs, I already have it in both raised garden beds so I can't test it out in one and not the other, in the end I have to deal with what I have and already placed in the beds. I do hope that I am just making a big deal out of nothing and my plants do great in this amendment, time will tell. Before this I grew peppers in containers and I used pine bark fines in the soil mix but I had 100% control over fertilizing (synthetic) and 90% of the watering and had zero micro soil life so I was ok with a mix like this. But I want to move to a more organic approach and am still learning so seeing this mix I was not sure it would do well without help from quick acting synthetic fertilizer. Next time will either go with a local nursery or bag bust to see what is in the bags.

Toxcrusadr, I am sure many have different reasons for raised beds, my reasoning is that I like growing hot and extremely hot peppers and they like warm roots so instead of staying in pots, I have more space with raised beds it's like one long and wide pot. Also I am growing bush melons and they like the heat also so they will also have warm roots.

I appriciate all the advice and feedback. I think it will be ok based on all the input from everyone, also I will top dress with composted manure, though it may or may not be needed it will make me feel better :)

I think you're going to be fine. I thought peppers do not like an overabundance of N anyway, so you might see how they are growing for a bit before adding extra. It's just possible that the giant corporate machines that make pre-fertilized Garden Soil actually know what they're doing and it might be just right.

+1 for hot peppers! Send us hot sauce!

Thanks toxcrusadr, will be giving it a shot and am hoping for the best. I do like making hot sauce!

Are those chocolate habs?

They are my favorite type of habanero

Darth_veeder, yes those are chocolate habanero, those are from last season, I have seedlings from saved seed from these now. I will probably grow these every year. The red are Carolina reapers. I have Aji lemon and Galapagos going this season also.

FYI - "forest products" = lumber industry by-product. (I know! "Forest products" sounds like something Bambi would be scampering through.)

So you have bags of shredded lumber mill scraps, probably partially composted. In that light, the addition of the poultry manure makes sense just to keep the wood breaking down.

For future beds, I prefer to build the existing soil UP. Since most lawn soil has been compacted from being trampled over, simply turning over the soil and digging in some amendments is going to add several inches in height. And while it will settle some, since you are never going to walk on it it won't go back to its compacted state. Add some compost on top, and you have a filled 3 or 4 inches with just your own dirt plus targeted organic improvements.

Just an idea for another way to go.

Hi Richard, I turned all the soil underneath the raised bed, then put this so called soil on top of that. I wish I did mix it in, instead of layering it. I will put composted manure on top and hope for the best, but with everyone's input on this thread I am feeling much better about how this garden will preform. I think next year will be even better after the wood breaks down further. Thanks for your advice, I plan on making another raised bed next year.

I think you are better off as you are not mixing it in. All that decomposing wood could use up any nitrogen available in the soil. At least with it on top you have more control in making adjustments.

Thanks, that makes me feel better too. When I turned the soil I went down a shovel depth and flipped it grass side down so my beds are almost a foot tall the over turned ground probably raised it about 4-5 inches then the so called soil on top of that to top it off to the height of the raised bed. I am hardening off my purple brussel sprouts and purple broccoli seedlings now and in a week or two I will plant them and after a week or two of being in the raised beds I will update this thread of their progress.

I think concerns about nitrogen unavailability using this product are quite overstated. The wood products are already composted or at least partially composted, which significantly reduces chances of nitrogen depletion plus the bagged "soil" is already amended with ferts, which will offset any lingering nutrient issues at least for the initial growing season.

As I stated previously, I use a very similar bagged product - based on "processed wood products" - as a planting medium for containerized tomatoes and there has been no evidence of any concerns about lack of N. In fact the toms thrive in this mix.

I would have no fear about using this 'soil' and would not hesitate to mix it into the existing soil if I so desired.

Agreed. As I alluded to earlier, they would get massive complaints if this product didn't make lush green plants for the customers.

Next season when you turn over this bed again, you'll start mixing in some of the native soil below. Do that few times and you'll have a rich topsoil as deep as your shovel can reach. The soil food web will extend it a little deeper all on its own.

So far it's going well.

Start shining up your salad fork!

Ha ha thanks! I will have to get my salad fork shined and get the herbs growing soon so I can make a good dressing. I was surprised when I dug a hole to plant the brussel sprouts, broccoli, and lettuce that there were earth worms every where I dug so in that 4 X 4 there are worms everywhere. I found the same in the larger bed which did not have leaves buried as the smaller bed did.

Thanks everyone for easing my fears about this soil and I am now happy with the results.

I noticed when I dig a hole to put my plant starts in like peppers and tomatoes the deeper I dig the tempreture rises. Is my soil composting? Is it ok that plants are planted in soil that is very warm? The first few inches is fairly cool but deeper than that it's very warm. When I dig there are healthy looking worms there. The tomatoes and peppers were planted in the bed this past Friday.

Rgreen48, thanks for the feedback, guess I second guess what I am not sure of, if it will be ok for plants or not. I appriciate you easing inexperience with planting in ground. My soil has a lot of wood product in it looks a lot like mulch. I guess it's still composting enough to generate a warmth but not hot. The peppers and tomatoes have been in only since Friday. You are correct it's dinosaur kale and that's been there a few weeks longer along with the lettuce. Right below the kale outside of the bed is a wild flower a four foot long row the width of the bed.

You guys all rock! All your advice was spot on and I did not add any additional compost and just left it be. I have not added any fertilizer. The only thing I did add to the holes that I planted peppers and tomatoes was fine ground bonemeal.

I am thankful for everyone's advice!

Salad party at habjolokia's house!

looks great

with all the fencing what are you trying to keep out?

Theparsley ha ha yeah we've already had a few salad meals and there's nothing like the taste of fresh grown greens.

darth_veeder, I am keeping out the crazy insane rabbits, I first learned that I had rabbits when we first moved in, they showed me by chomping down and killing three of my young blueberry bushes. Then when I planted my bare root apple trees they went after the trunk. I put up tree guards quickly. Then when I set up the garden, I knew the trouble would come so I wanted to put up that chicken wire with no possibility of them jumping over it, might be over done with height but it's fine. Right now I have peach trees from seed growing they nipped them too, so I have clear plastic forks guarding those for now but will be fencing them soon. If you can't tell I hate these rabbits! I won't kill them unless they cross the line, the line is my garden, they cross it they will be dinner. Theses rabbits are not that fearful of people or dogs.

"If you can't tell I hate these rabbits!"

Is that you Sam?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOUhGcsHqDM

Ha ha yeah I am close to being Sam :)

Dat wascally wabbit!

"Fee fi fo fum, I smell da bwood of a wabbit!"

I got 175 bags of this last year It is garbage. NOTHING would grow in it. I had to add a lot of compost to salvage my garden plants. Tomatoes were ok, but everything lese was dieing.