First time gardener here. Eagerly purchased a problematic garden soil

7 years ago

Hi everyone!

So I'm a first time gardener, taking the dive in growing some vegetables. Cooking is a passion of mine and felt like I should have a more intimate relationship with my ingredients.

For this first attempt, I thought I'd start out simply. Decided on Tomato and Zucchini as they are pretty big staples in my recipes. So I jump online and start researching, like any self respecting millennial. Discover that a plastic bin I purchased for a recent move, is actually food grade plastic and would make a perfect receptacle (its a sizable, rectangular bin. 29"x17"x18"). So container gardening it is! Order some seeds from Baker Creek (Arkansas traveler tomatoes and Black Beauty zucchini's), and in my overly excitable state it start on the path of this labor of love, purchased BLACK GOLD GARDEN SOIL, on the strength of good amazon reviews......

Now as I said, I am a self respecting millennial, but apparently with this age group comes rash decisions. After making a purchase of two, 1 cu ft bags of Black Gold Garden Soil, I decide to look up what the online gardening community thought of this soil. Needless to say, not many looked favorably on this mix. The main issue with this soil from what I gather, is that it is EXTREMELY water retentive, and becomes saturated and tightly compacted very quickly. Of course we all know that with soggy soil comes root rot and disease.

Now my question for any who are knowledgeable on the subject, is what would be the best way to employ this soil? Is there something I can "cut" this soil with to allow for better drainage, and keeping it loose?? Really appreciate any advice anyone could provide. Thanks!

Featured Answer

rayzone7

7 years ago

A more intimate relationship with your ingredients? That doesn't sound very sanitary! Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Container gardening is a different animal, and garden soil is probably not your best bet. You need a soilless potting mix, or something equilivent. There's another forum dedicated to container gardening and there are a couple of soilless recipes they swear by: one is called gritty mix and one's called 5-1-1. I've used the 5-1-1 with some success, but I'm not a diehard container gardener. It's 5 parts pine fines, 1 part peat moss and 1 part coarse perlite.

I'd return what you have, or use it in an in-in-ground garden and then hop on over to the container gardening forum.

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Comments (12)

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
7 years ago
Do you have any outdoor space? If so you could use the garden soil just by making in ground beds or raised beds and mixing the soil in with the native earth.

Or ... If you haven't opened the bags return it and get a refund.

FWIW - if you have reasonable soil in your yard you do not actually need to bring soil in. Just amend what you have.

I hope others will come along and talk about container growing. I don't do it. Too much hassle.
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paulsiu
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Welcome. Mistakes are how we learn. Either return it or use it to fill spots in your yard. You should use potting mix instead of soil in containers.
Drew Porras
Original Author
7 years ago
Thank you everyone for the responses. I live in a townhome, inside of a gated community, so no soil around me to utilize. This is strictly urban farming. My original idea was to build a raised bed in my patio, but once I came across container gardening, I decided to take the leap.

So the consensus is to return the soil. I guess I should do some more research about potting mix. If anyone else has anything to add, please don't hesitate to respond
toxcrusadr
7 years ago
+1 on getting a proper container/potting mix. Theoretically you could make your own using this stuff as an ingredient, but finding just the right (VERY coarse) stuff to lighten it up is probably more trouble than swapping it out for a container mix.

Hey you didn't really screw up if you still have the receipt and haven't planted yet. That puts you ahead of a lot of other folks who stop by here with soil disasters. :-D
Drew Porras
Original Author
7 years ago
It was suggested to me on the container forums that I mix in #2 perlite with this soil. I've found a 4 cu ft bag on Lowe's for just under $20.

What do you guys think?
toxcrusadr
7 years ago
Perlite is a fairly expensive solution when you can buy a bag of container mix for half that. But if it works it works.
gumby_ct
7 years ago
Where did you see these reviews about <"EXTREMELY water retentive, and becomes saturated and tightly compacted very quickly.">? It seems to me that if it were compacted it couldn't be retentive and vice versa.

The reviews that I read on Amazon mentioned an abundance of gnats which would discourage me.

I always worry that reviews can be biased by a competitor and try to check the negatives to see if I can live with it.
Drew Porras
Original Author
7 years ago
those specific comments were actually from a thread on this forum:

Messed up and used Black Gold soil

I had read similar comments from various sites, but this thread was the proverbial nail in the coffin.
waynedanielson
7 years ago
like any self respecting millennial, you believe online reviews to the discouragement of actual learning.

mix it with pine bark nuggets. bonus if you can lava rock in 1/2 to 3/4 inch size. triple bonus if you can tell why.

this particular forum is enamored of the 5-1-1 mix, to the point where any other is discouraged. is it the right one for you? perhaps, perhaps not. try. learn. try again.

more intimate relationship with ingredients? yeppers, the internet is the place to find that...
kimmq
7 years ago
I can find nothing to tell me what is in this BLACK GOLD GARDEN SOIL but I have to wonder if this might be the same as the "garden soil" that the Scotts people sell that is not even soil. What is in this "garden soil"? If just organic matter and no mineral soil particles it is not even soil.

kimmq is kimmsr
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
7 years ago
"The reviews that I read on Amazon mentioned an abundance of gnats which would discourage me."

An abundance of gnats is typically an indication of a soil mix that is too moisture retentive. And particle size will contribute to aeration (or lack of it) and collapse. Too fine a particle size in the mix naturally leads to lack of aeration/collapse as the fine particles filter together, eliminating any pore space. And lack of aeration reduces drainage.....hence excessive moisture retention.

btw, Black Gold Garden Soil is intended to be a supplement or amendment for regular garden soil, not as a stand-alone product. And it is NOT intended for container culture. As it is hoped to be very clear, growing successfully in containers requires very different materials and approaches to inground gardening.