I use Miracle Gro garden soil, and like it. I've used Agway's brand as well. I look for the top soil that has biodegradable ingredients such as ground bark. I use the topsoil at planting time, and to top dress throughout the season.

There are lower priced topsoils that are just small particles of grit, and I use these for filing in bare spots in walkways around the beds, but not for topdressing.

i suppose.. unfinished compost.. might attract vermin .... [though i mostly suspect some power hungry home owner assc ... lol]

but i also wondered.. how you didnt end up with raised beds.. if you add 'soil' every season ... not that its bad.. if it works.. it works ... dont get me wrong. ...

but the whole premise sound like the old school manure spreading as a soil amendment ... which more or less does disappear .. over time ... [i think it flows downhill .... lol ... :) ]

anyway .. just curious what you are doing..

ken

ps: imo.. the base issue here is word definition ... i call mother earth ==> soil .... i call stuff that goes in pots ===>> media ... just to differentiate them ...

btw.. dirt is what you have all over yourself.. after playing in either of the above ... but i digress ... thats another show ...

so.. within my definition.. i would never use a media... in or on.. mother earth ... if for no other reason.. it would be a waste of money ... mixing them ...

the root of the problem.. is the marketing mavens... like MG who use the words interchangeably ... and confuses us all ...

gals comment.. is spot on ... i also cant imagine MG using mother earth in their bags ... they make media .. to come full circle ...

now go get dirty ... and just have fun .. do whatever you want... in your garden.. its not really for us to tell you .. that your method is wrong if it works ... though its fun to discuss... especially on a cold miserable rainy MI day ... yuck .. if i didnt know better.. i would think im in the PNW .... lol

ken

Full sun, blue skies and mid 70's today, ken :-)

I read up on this idea about compost, fertilizer (excluding the fish emulsion part) and rats and I also agree that it shouldn't really be an issue. So while we're owners but this is a cooperation and this is what the board has decided, so I have to go along with the desires of the complex.

We have a massive amount of leaves here, so each year cleaning our flower bed and other areas of the grounds lifts soil. So I replenish it by adding top soil and because I think it's healthy to do so. There's a lot of ground to cover hence all the soil that's needed.

I just recently read the MG soil has granules of Oscomite in the soil which we're not allowed, so now MG isn't going to work as a compromise after all. If they come to inspect the grounds it will be noticed.

I think I'm going to stick with top soil which I think is the Scotts brand we get each year and supplement with a liquid fertilizer other than fish emulsion for fertilizer.

I saw a product that says it's all purpose 10-10-10 with amino acids and seaweed extract, maybe something like that would be useful as a decent alternative to Bloomkote? But since I began Bloomkote it's worked so beautifuly that I doubt anything can replace it.

Thanks for the input!

Why are you not allowed Osmocote? That makes no sense at all!! No rat would ever mess with or show the slightest interest in that. Adding topsoil does nothing to improve the health of the soil....that requires additions of organic matter, which is the compost your co-op is so against (another preposterous supposition!!).

And you can use any water soluble fertilizer - a powder or liquid that gets mixed with water before application - you like. Miracle Gro All Purpose is a perfectly reasonable choice but there are many, many others.

Exactly gardengal, they come up with some things which make no sense. I'm exhausted arguing with them about some of their nonsensical decisions which ticks me off to no end!

Osmocote is a granual fertilizer same as Bloomkote which they'd see in the soil. The notice they sent around said no fertilizer or compost. So I figured I could get around it by adding soil that feeds but MG has granuals which will show up in the soil.

Also I already purchased my Bloomkote for this year only to get the ridiculous notice saying that now I can't use it!

So now my other solution is to add a liquid or yes a soluble fertilizer other than fish emulsion and I'm searching for a decent alternative.

Recently I bought Miracle Gro GARDEN SOIL at our local Ace store... I have two roses that needed top dressed because of rain erosion...Anyhow I spread the MG garden soil and was horrified a week or so afterwards when hundreds of weeds started popping up...I had to contact the MG company and report...

After I get weeds under contol I'll mix in some yard waste compost...

I seen a Miracle Gro TOP SOIL at Ace... Maybe I should of chose that instead...lol

Just a thought, but gently raking any granular fert into the soil should fully disguise its presence :-) And most recommend you do this anyway.

gardengal, thanks I do dig it into the soil but knowing them they might catch wind of and who knows which my luck maybe they'll tell me to dig it all up lol

Oh boy no forget that Jim I can do without more weeds!

Unlikely that the soil itself contains the weed seeds.......it is just that it makes a very fertile medium in which the seeds that already exist or blow in will germinate.