Peat moss is only hydrophobic - water repellent - if allowed to dry out on the soil surface or was not sufficiently wetted before incorporating into existing or imported soil. Generally, the addition of compost or other OM into the soil mix will supply necessary moisture retention. There maybe just too a high a percentage of sand in the mix. If the garden is already planted, you can just apply the compost as a mulch......mulches are intended to slow/reduce moisture evaporation from soil.

Yeah, mulch. It will keep the surface from drying out, which is when peat moss forms that water repellent crust. Grass clippings (if you haven't used herbicides) are great. Just an inch or two.

You haven't ruined everything, the soil food web will turn that stuff into a nice soil by next season. It just takes a little time.

The value of peat moss is kind of a myth handed to us from prior generations. It's really not that great except under very specific circumstances. Compost does all the same things but you don't have to ship it from Canada and pay so much for it, and it doesn't repel water like peat.

gardengal48 - thats exactly what I did unfortunetly. Filled up the boxes with soil, then topped off with peat moss and kinda raked it in to the top. I havent planted my full garden yet. I live in a colder climate and they advise not planting until late May so I only have cold hardy crop of seeds. However my other 5 boxes are completely empty. What would you reccomend? Work in some manure or compost now? Mix it in?

toxcrusadr I'm not sure whats in my grass since we havent touched it since moving in 2 years ago though it doesnt look great so I guess no pesticides? lol And should I be adding grass now?I don't want to mulch and have that prevent me from being able to plant stuff in the next few weeks! And yes I'm so confused about peat moss. never even heard of it before this year when I started researching - at least it didnt travel far....I'm in Canada! :)

THANKS FOR YOUR HELP! :)

Anywhere you haven't planted that has peat on top, take a shovel and turn that over and mix it in. That should help a lot. More effective than mulching it.

Where you have planted, mulch around the plants. Turn it over as soon as those crops are out.

Peat has virtually no nutritive value which is one big difference it has from compost. It can help texture and pH but if you're amending soil, compost will do both of those things. Anyway you can't really grow in 100% peat so I hope your small early plants can get through it and put some good roots into the soil.

Herbicides should be no problem at all after at least two years. I only meant if you had applied them this spring, it could be a problem.

Does your soil have any clay in it? Clay absorbs and holds moisture but mustn't be allowed to dry out.

I have tried various soil preparation techniques such as tilling, screening, double-digging, lasagna, but now I tend to just add compost and fertilizer to the surface, scratching it into the top 2" and then mulching. I don't amend the soil at planting time.

I totally get why people amend the soil and then plant, but it is best to amend the soil during the winter and allow the amendments to be incorporated into the soil well before planting.

Good luck!

Adding to what I see as all good advice above, I wouldn't look at that soil as something bad. Good drainage is extremely important for the long-term health of a garden. And, opposed to some heavier soils, a fast draining soil is very easy to turn into great stuff. The comments above look like they will send you on a good path. Next year, after adding some compost and learning how to mulch properly, you'll be on your way towards a very nice garden.

One thing to keep in mind, and this depends on factors that I can't determine from a distance, is that soils that drain fast (like sand,) and require more frequent watering, also tend to need more fertilizing. Again though, this is not something to fret over, but to keep in mind and learn about. It will depend on such factors as the types of fertilizers, levels of organic matter, and the health of the soil. If you haven't yet done so, work toward getting a soil test so that you know the available nutrient profile and levels of OM.

You need to find out more about that "Premium Garden Soil" you were sold and these simple soil tests can help.

) Soil test for organic
material. From that soil sample put enough of the rest to make a 4 inch level in
a clear 1 quart jar, with a tight fitting lid. Fill that jar with water and
replace the lid, tightly. Shake the jar vigorously and then let it stand for 24
hours. Your soil will settle out according to soil particle size and weight.
For example, a good loam will have about 1-3/4 inch (about 45%) of sand on the
bottom. about 1 inch (about 25%) of silt next, about 1 inch (25%) of clay above
that, and about 1/4 inch (about 5%) of organic matter on the top.

2) Drainage. Dig a hole
1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains
away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain
away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drains’ too quickly and needs
more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the
soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up.

3) Tilth. Take a handful
of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is
released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a
finger that clump should fall apart.

4) Smell. What does your
soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant
odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria
will be and the nicer your soil will smell, to a point. Too much organic matter
can be bad as well.

5) Life. How many
earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5,
according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that
is not healthy.

Once you know more about the soil you have then you can take steps to amend the soil properly.

If I were to order something called "Premium Garden Soil" I would not expect to have to amend it with anything, initially. I would go back to the seller and ask just what this so called soil was supposed to contain, how much and what type of mineral and how much organic matter.

Peat moss is just organic material and not the best organic material to add to any garden soil.

kimmq is kimmsr

I'm guessing you built raised beds? I'm inferring this from what you have said, so a little clarification would be great. If this is indeed the case, there's a simple answer.

If you ordered soil by the truck and added $20 worth of peat, and mixed it in, you may rest assured, the problem is NOT the peat. Now if the peat is in large clumps, that's different.

You need to find out more about that "Premium Garden Soil" you were sold...

That's what I think too.

I noticed in the initial post you said that a few hours later there is "only 20% moisture left". Are you checking it with some type of moisture meter?

Hi All! So to answer questions: yes it is a new raised bed. I'm not measuring moisture with a moisture meter...just doing it by eye and feel. So I will soak it and come back and then the top layer looks DRY. So I poked it and like an inch deep its not mud its dry soil. Maybe a bit of moisture so a tiny bit of sand may stick to my hand but its definitely not muddy or anything.

And UGH. I'm starting to think it wasnt good soil. So background: I looked all over to find good 'gardening soil' and my dad said his friends knows a guy who is in landscaping / sand /stone providing business and he could get me a deal. I asked him to make SURE its good soil. He got back to me and said its supposed to be the best soil to grow in! So I took their word for it.

I'm just looking at the bill and all it says is 'top soil'. Top soil doesnt sound like the 'best vegetable garden soil' I had been promised! >:(

From my understanding of things top soil is just regular old soil / dirt and needs to be amended? What should I do? I saw at a local store that they were selling cow and sheep manure 3 for $10. Do you guys think a couple packs of those will do the trick? This is so frustrating because the entire project has put me in more than $1k cost and the fact that its still crappy is really maddening!

And heres a pic of the invoice.

I cant read what hes written beside top soil?

Topsoil doesn't really mean much as a term, certainly does not mean you got a bad product since it doesn't really mean anything. Can you post a picture of the soil itself?

We recommended you ask the vendor how they make this stuff. Did you talk to them and explain what you are seeing? I can't read the scrawls on the receipt, does that say 'cannon' topsoil? :-]

You said in post #1 that you added a bunch of peat moss, we recommended mixing it in, did you do that? Did you mulch around existing plants?

toxcrusadr - yup the mulch has been mixed in. I still find some clumps now and then but I try to smash those too. I didnt mulch yet because I only planted seeds like 1.5 weeks ago and they haven't all sprouted yet. And Yes thats a good idea! I will post pics of the soil :) better yet I will see if I can get a video :)

Looks like what you got is their 'garden soil' which is $280 per 10 yds whereas their 'topsoil' is $240.

http://www.mauriceyelle.ca/index.php/products/garden-soil

Garden soil is described as "a mixture of screened topsoil, black earth and mushroom compost." I'm not sure what 'black earth' is, perhaps just high organic soil they are getting from somewhere. The mushroom compost probably has a lot of shredded wood and/or peat in it, and if they used a lot of that, it could be too quick to drain or hydrophobic. In time the organic matter will decompose further and I suspect conditions will improve. But call them and explain what is happening and see if they have suggestions, and try the other things we suggested.

Black earth is probably chernozem, it's an official soil categorization high in humus.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernozem

Basically soil from grasslands.

The real stuff is great soil but no way to vouch for how much is in that mix or how good the black earth was.

The word of the day is "Let the buyer beware" . How many here would call someone and say "I want a new car. Get me one and I will pay you what you want"?

Why do we do that with soil? So often we see here someone bought some soil and it was not what they wanted, or expected, because they relied on the seller to give them what they wanted and that happens seldom.

Someone wanting to purchase soil needs to determine what they want and go and look for it., same as buying that car. Do not rely on someone's description of soil as
"topsoil" (a meaningless term), or "garden soil" (also meaningless), but go and look at what is being sold. Look at the soil, smell the soil, feel the soil, ask for a one cup sample of the soil for testing as described in "Soil test for organic matter" above.

A good soil mix for a garden is one with about 45 percent sand, 25 percent silt, 25 percent clay and 5 percent organic matter, soil some maintain is improbable to get.
If we all demand that mix it will become available if those selling soil want to stay in business.

If we, as buyers, demand quality we will get it.

kimmq is kimmsr

All true...but if I looked at the soil in that picture, at least from here, it looks pretty delicious. I'm not sure the OP would have had a way to know what it was going to do when it dried out without standing there and waiting. But I agree (as always) with your point kimmsr: always look at what you are buying and ask a lot of questions.

Yep, I too agree - it's always good to 'look under the hood and kick the tires' when making a big investment. Soil does fit that 'bill'. Getting 'taken to the bank' by Big Soil is never a good thing.

In this case it's an independent outfit, but I agree with tox too... from a distance, it doesn't look half bad. Tough to know for sure. I say amend it as was described above if you wish, but the only way to know is to take for a spin.

Looking at pictures of soil tells you very little. Even looking at soil from a distance tells you little. You need to pick the soil up, feel it, smell it, look at what is in the soil (life).

To repeat a story I have told here before. There is a place up the road from me that dredges the organic matter that has accumulated on some lake bottoms over the centuries, mixes that organic matter with sand, and sells it as soil, state tested soil since they send samples in to be tested for soil pH. 3 landscape supply companies purchase this soil and magically as it is transported to those storage yards it becomes "topsoil" since that is what these landscape supply companies sell it as. Since there is no legal definition of "topsoil" those sellers can call that soil what ever they wish. The same with anyone else that sells soil, what they sell can be called "topsoil", "garden soil" or almost anything they wish although I doubt that anyone would tell you what they have is garbage.

The only way to know whether the soil you are buying is good soil or not is to look at it, feel it, smell it, test it.

kimmq is kimmsr