What problem are you trying to solve with your soil amendment (or additions to your soil amendment, since it sounds like you want to add it to compost)? My suggestion would just be to add your compost and not purchase any additional stuff - unless you know exactly what deficit you're trying to correct, with soil testing.

Manure/ecoli: basic guidelines are to make sure it's well aged and not apply 'fresh' manure near green leafy plants and/or vegetables/root vegetables that may be eaten raw. Guidelines for agriculture are (I believe) six months ageing or more. Obviously if you wish to be extra careful, age longer and apply more carefully around edibles.

Completely agree. Your own compost is already an organic soil amendment. What is the rationale for spending money on additives? You refer to a ‘soil mix’. Is this for raised beds? In ground beds?

@floral_uk I made the discovery this summer that if I keep the organic component of a soil mix below 20% that I can get away with the organic component having small particles, such as a peat moss or sawdust. I can preserve air space in the wet soil as long as I stay around 20%. I am doing a side by side growing experiment in containers of many different custom soils I have been preparing, and I was very curious to see how adding up to 5% of the mix as a rich set of fertilizer type substrates would affect plant growth.

Effectively that is what is being done in commercial cactus mixes, where they have compost and other rich ingredients in very small fractions of the mix.

In any case, I am not trying to solve a specific problem. This is all about curiosity.

I note didn't think this was referring to containers. I'm not a container person so leave that discussion to those who know something about that.

@armoured The soil I am talking about could be used in raised beds as well. Just focus on which organic components are valuable in a normal potting soil mix.

Again, don't feel I know much about potting soils or specifics of raised beds.

IME, over the last 30 or so years of container gardening, adding "organic" amendments to a potting soil mix rarely adds any benefits and can very easily compromise both fast drainage and porosity. I don't even advocate adding compost to a potting or container mix for that reason. And raised beds are NOT containers (unless with a solid bottom) so applying similar principles and practices to both does not apply.

In addition to the fact that heavily organic amendments tend to break down or compress too rapidly for optimum container usage, there is the issue that organic nutrient sources - worm castings, compost, bat guano, etc. - are rarely able to be converted into a plant usable form efficiently enough in a container setting to be of much value. The best results I have found from any container soil mix focus solely on durability, good water retention and movement and maintaining porosity so just the standard bark, perlite, pumice, grit or gravel and a minimum percentage of peat or coir. ALL nutrient needs are addressed by a CRF like Osmocote or a full range liquid fertilizer....and not an organic one :-)

It sounds like a fun experiment!

This isn't strictly what you were asking, but it might help?

For years, I've been feeding all my pots with a combination of soybean meal and whatever else I'm tossing on the lawn (this year, an odd combination due to Budweiser-19, as I've come to call it).

I've found that the plants flourish without other amendments, but I'm not using it as a strict "soil additive," but as a topdressing and feeding. (ETA--I do this in the gardens as well, and feed them monthly during the season. It works beautifully. /ETA)

Organic additives will tend to decay, but if you want to use compost, feel free. They're a wonderful way of retaining water in a mix (sometimes too much, so mind how much you use), and feed the plants with anything up to the equivalent of 30 pounds of soy per thousand square feet, which is actually...not that much. Call it half in a 12 inch pot, very lightly worked into the top half inch to help keep it damp. Use monthly during the growing season, but back off if you notice it smells at all until the biological system catches up.

As it decays, it'll work its own way into the soil as bacteria and fungi break it down and enrich the mix.

Any other grain will do fine if you don't have access to soy, although soy is the highest protein level most of us would be able to easily get (and hence, the highest nitrogen equivalency). Corn's quite low in terms of protein.

Something like Milorganite...well, that's composted human feces, so you wouldn't wish to use it in anything except an ornamental--it's not recommended in vegetable gardens, so I wouldn't recommend it for indoor plants, or for something like a potted tomato!

It's gotten to the point where I don't repot my plants because, over time, the potting soil is nicer than when I bought it and potted the plant in the first place, and except for extremely fast growers, I don't augment with synthetics (some due to not wanting to use a factory-produced item when I don't have to).

Sure, my bought potting soil settles as the organics that were in it rot away. I just add a little more to compensate and then enhance that. :-)

@gardengal48 So I want to point out I said 2% of the soil mix. 2% of the soil mix is not going to compromise air space. You make a fair point that a container environment may not be able to properly exploit fertilizer substrates that require organisms in the soil for their proper action.

Having said this, in any planting environment where an organic soil amendment is appropriate, do you ever use anything more than just heated compost? Because the other posts here seem to be suggesting that any organic soil amendments beyond heated compost are just a waste of money.

I think one point on this is that pricey organic amendments are a waste of money IF not being used for a specific purpose. If it's just general improve-the-soil amending, regular old compost is fine.

I was answering the original simple question, as it was phrased. “What is a good organic soil amendment”. Simple answer, “your own compost”. (And it doesn’t have to be ‘heated’.) I was not suggesting that any organic soil amendments beyond compost are a waste of money. You said you had compost. I said use it. If you can get cheap well rotted manure use that. Or leaves. Basically use anything you can get for nothing or next to nothing.

I was assuming you were talking about in ground or raised bed gardening. You didn’t mention containers or made up mixes in the original post.

Agree entirely. I note the OP referred to a product with "biochar, worm castings, humus, compost, glacial rock powder, and bat guano. Pretty rich stuff". Without commenting on the product, parts of this mix are organic fertilizers - bat guano for example high in nitrogen. I don't see the point or the expense making sense unless it's clear the soil is (demonstrably) deficient in some way (like soil test or growing experience that clearly indicate nitrogen deficiency).

A separate discussion can be had about expensive 'organic' mixes that contain things like bat guano or humus (is that distinct from the compost it contains?) without proportions or some specific numbers about NPK content. Some of those contents are relatively expensive, some are dirt cheap - which do you guess the mix contains in large amounts? Sounds like a mix of Good Stuff™. Which is fine but I wouldn't pay for it - particularly since probably no way of knowing what the actual nutrient composition is.

To each their own though.

(I like separately that it specifies 'glacial' rock powder. So in what way is glacial rock different in a way that matters? Sounds like just 'rocks' to me - at least in the parts of North America where there used to be glaciers (most of it?).

Compost is literally humus. Now if you wait a very long time, compost will eventually become a very completely digested material containing nothing but complex humic acids and similar structures. There are some products that use this kind of stuff, they may call it 'humates'. It's great of course but I'm not sure it's superior to a fresh compost, other than the fact that its organic matter (being indigestible to soil microbes) will become a permanent addition to soil. Fresh compost has things that humates won't, such as leachable available nutrients and high numbers of diverse microbes. Bottom line, for me, it's not worth the cost. Same as rock dust and other specialty additives.

I realize cost and value was not your question though. Just trying to put some perspective on what 'humus' is. Generally speaking, even a bag of 100% composted manure is 'humus.'

Thanks, tox - it was a semi-rhetorical question about humus, drawing attention to the fact that the product in question seems to list compost and humus as separate components when they're basically the same thing. Which perhaps they have some explanation or justification for, but I suspect the primary reason is to enhance the capability of the nice sounding Good Stuff™ in the product to separate the purchaser from their cash.

I knew YOU knew that, it was more for the OP. :-]

Sorry, I seem to be excessively literal today. 😔

"Sorry, I seem to be excessively literal today. 😔"

It's better than being littoral. You'd be all wet.

Barring knowing you have an issue, there's probably no real reason to add a pricey product even to the tune of 2% of your soil mass. But if you have a huge amount of soil, have had it tested, and know you have a shortage of boron or something, a high boron additive might make sense. Finding that as an organic would be another challenge, of course (I'd just use a borate at a calculated number of milligrams or grams).

Just as a whacky example from soil testing that does happen with fair regularity.

As a general rule, I'd completely agree that simple homemade compost is good enough (or bought if one can't or doesn't make one's own), and regular organic feedings would help maintain the organic mass as it naturally burns off over time. Or just dig in more year on year to maintain the soil level in the pot. Whatever's handy.

I only have a bit to add to Richard's - one point a bit of a caution, another just another old favourite compost material, and one a technique that's simple.

Cow manure: I'd be a bit more cautious about applying cow manure directly, just because what one comes across can vary. From some farms, manure can be a liquid slurry with a lot of urine and can have a lot of nitrogen (urea, ammonia variations). That is too strong for direct application to gardens - you can sure tell when fields are having a fresher manure applied. Other times it's mixed with other stuff - straw or wood chips or whatever, either as bedding or added after - and composted; that would likely include all cow manure sold as compost. Health guidelines (I think) indicate plants for eating should only be grown six months or more after applying - or in practical terms after good composting. (I don't know about the e.coli angle specifically but one distinction is after good aerobic composting). Not trying to discourage anyone from using cow manure - just common sense, when it smells like soil and not that manure whiff with a touch of ammonia, it's probably fine.

Wood chips: wood chips make a great mulch that'll condition and amend the soil well over the long term; or pile it up and forget about it for a while before using (adding other organic stuff if you want). Wood has a lot more lignin than other plant parts, fungi are the main organism that breaks down lignin (slowly), and over the long term those lignin breakdown-products are one of the main components of humus (and fungi in soil are good too). Also often one of the cheaper mulch/compost ingredients around (free in many places or free with a bit of work). Can be mixed with just about any other compost material or waste, too.

Another caution point: amending by mulching is easy but takes time. Digging and mixing can be done, but some of these amendments - like woodier materials if not well composted - may tie up the nutrients for the first year or two after. (At any rate mostly you'd only do this once or infrequently)

And a simple technique for amending with some nutrient benefits: bury your greener compost materials directly (sometimes called trench composting). Some gardeners do this every fall with their garden waste and some just do it with kitchen waste as needed or to deal with excess, damaged, spoiled fruit or pommace or whatever. I don't do this much but have done with a large pile of damaged apples, nice rich garden bed after that. Convenient for those who don't have room for their own compost pile or as a one-off to amend an area. Worms will flock to it and do most of the work underground. Also basically no odours. That greener/wetter/fruit waste will usually have more nitrogen.

Personally I don't worry too much about the nutrients; it's true compost is not a fertilizer in that it's not concentrated shots of the main nutrients. But soil amended with compost holds what nutrients there are pretty well and fertilizers may not be needed. (Varies of course by soil and what you're growing).

I don't consider myself a pro though, I like the composting/soil part more than the gardening, I'm the muscle and dirt guy in our household. (The bar is set low for muscle, fortunately)

And I don't touch the containers or indoor plants except when I'm told.

@Richard Brennan Thank you for your post and that was helpful. In terms of my objectives: I have excellent soil structure and do not need to make any amendments to improve the structure. In terms of my background, I have been growing succulents - mostly in containers - and those tend to have more strict requirements for soil structure and air space. At this point, I have an experimental setup for measuring water holding capacity, porosity, and air space in the soil. I am very conscious of air space requirements and I measure for that in every new soil mix I develop. And I am getting good at engineering soil around structural issues.

I am terrible with fertilizer and organic amendments. This is not my skillset currently, and over the next few years, this is where I want to learn more. Growing in containers, I have been using synthetic fertilizers, and that has gone very well. That background stated, my objective in making an organic soil amendment is to add NPK and trace elements to the soil. I am interested in adding these things at a minimal trace level, just to see how it affects plant growth over a year's time. I will compare those soil mixes against others I already use with synthetic fertilizer only.

Regarding your rundown on specific organic substrates:

* You said that compost is not a fertilizer. If the only value of compost in a soil amendment is holding water, then we might as well just add peat moss? Do you happen to know what is the water retention over time of peat moss versus compost? I think it is pretty hard to beat peat moss on this.

* If I wanted to have a minimal background organic NPK fertilizer in a soil amendment, how do you feel about adding something like alfalfa meal? And I understand your point that an in-ground planting or raised bed would benefit from worms.

* In terms of biochar, what percentage of the soil is a healthy amount? I have read 3% to 5%, which actually seems high to me. If using humus for the same purpose, would the percentage of the soil mix be different?

* How does water retention of humus compare to compost? If they are similar then probably it makes no sense to use compost in the soil mix at all, and humus would have the advantage of moisture retention plus holding nutrients.

• You said that compost is not a fertilizer. If the only value of compost in a soil amendment is holding water, then we might as well just add peat moss? It is not the only value by far! There is a textural component which aids in creating and maintaining porosity; it does have a nutrient load (peat moss does not) although typically light and difficult to quantify; and most important of all, it encourages a varied and active soil biology, which peat also does not.
• If I wanted to have a minimal background organic NPK fertilizer in a soil amendment, how do you feel about adding something like alfalfa meal? And I understand your point that an in-ground planting or raised bed would benefit from worms. If we are taking about raised bed or inground plantings, feel free to add whatever you want. An organic soil amendment in a container soil mix will not work as a fertilizer source - or at least not at all effectively - because the soil organisms necessary to process the amendment into plant accessible nutrients are just not present in any meaningful populations to accomplish. If you need to fertilize, fertilize! The synthetics work perfectly well but if you wish to stay organic, it will need to be a fully water soluble or liquid one. And even those tend to be lacking a full range of nutes.
• How does water retention of humus compare to compost? Humus is a mystical thing :-) First, you just can't go out and buy bags of humus. As was mentioned by previous posters, humus is the end result of the composting process, is difficult to detect and hard to manufacture without a time machine.....or a huge amount of patience. So take with a large grain of salt advertisements for fertilizers including various humates or humic acids. These products are hard to obtain easily and difficult to discern physically so you may very well just be getting a bag of plain ole dirt!

I also want to make certain that we understand how container gardening differs from inground gardening and how the materials and methods are not compatible. For example, compost added to a container potting mix would be very low on my list of desirable ingredients because it is too temporary/unstable and breaks down too rapidly so loses all the attributes you may have added it for plus generates a number of negatives.

"but if you wish to stay organic, it will need to be a fully water soluble or liquid one. And even those tend to be lacking a full range of nutes."

No, no you don't. I've fed organically for years in my pots. Apparently, by some magical definition, this doesn't work. Yet somehow, mostly outdoors, it works fine.

Indoors, you'll probably want to use a liquid just to avoid any possibility of scent. Even there, I use organics, just in small amounts--and dig them a tenth inch in to confound odor.

Frankly, if this can be argued logically, great. If the argument is toxic and insulting, please keep it to yourself because again, I've had it with the toxicity.

@morpheuspa What are the substrates in your container mix? The kinds of container soils Gardnengal is using are things like 5-1-1 mix, which have mostly inert organic substrates (i.e., bark and peat moss).

Ditto. Not that it would matter, organics will decay in any substratum you would care to name from sand onward. It's not as though decay bacteria don't waft around on the wind, and aren't inherent on any material you're adding anyway. I've used them both in old and new potting soils, soils I've mixed myself by hand, soil I've made for my very touchy desert roses that's mostly bark and pebbles, and so on and feed organically.

Actually, one can even do that by "liquid" if one wants to by making a rather disgusting and slightly chunky slurry of blood meal dissolved in water. :-) It's not exactly chock full of anything but nitrogen, really, but it certainly works as a fast source of N that requires very little breakdown (one actually has to be careful with it).

I've used Milorganite indoors as well, and made a "mistake" (quotes because...well, how much of a mistake is it when the plant responds by growing well?) by overfeeding. I fed (too much as it had been a while), forgot I fed in the mayhem, fed again (too much since I had it in my head I hadn't fed in a while), and then realized I'd done it twice when I could smell it when I walked past. For about a week, I'd say it was mildly noticeable and basic observation showed decay fungi at the soil surface. After that, it faded as the Milo decayed down. Now the plant's just deep green and growing at an accelerated rate (in November) under its basic 9 watt plant light. It takes longer to process indoors without worms and shredding insects and relies more on soil fungi and bacterial processes, but it does process.

And if I hadn't overdone it vastly, there would have been no...odor issues.

There are also a few small deciduous trees that I keep up all year, plus flowering ageratum I like to grow out of season and a few perennials I grow indoors without allowing dormancy. I've...had some commentary about that too that I don't wish to discuss or repeat, so the less said the better.

Thanks for the question and commentary in a pleasant manner. Again, any commentary that involves non-toxic interactions is welcome. Those who are incapable of basic manners and human decency can skip it or read Miss Manners before replying.

@westes: just limited to the 'compost is not a fertilizer' point. For purposes here and in most contexts, the difference is mainly one of concentration, but also consistency/measurement (you almost never know how much eg. N a compost contains). Compost contains nutrients, but not in high concentrations - and also varies a lot, so not as useful to correct identified deficiencies as a fertilizer would be used to boost e.g. nitrogen. Organic fertilizers - guano for example - have a known higher concentration of specific nutrients.

Outdoors / in regular soil - compost boosts soil fertility and helps make nutrients available to plants and also contains nutrients - but still usually isn't considered a fertilizer because low concentrations. After that the biology and chemistry is very complex; one way to think of it is that compost tends to contain a lot of carbon that's not a nutrient for the plant (they make their own from the air) but that all the other soil organisms eat and live on and bring their own nutrients to the party or draw from the soil, making the nutrients available (sometimes quite deep in the soil). (Plus some soil denizens can even fix nitrogen from the air).

All this is quite different from a controlled container environment, like yours, where you're being quite careful and precise about what goes in there. Compost alone may have enough nutrients for most purposes outdoors, but different situation entirely in a contained environment.

Of course you can use whatever substrate you like and fertilize in any manner you choose with container gardening. But depending on your choices, you may not get the optimum results you desire.

There are very obvious reasons why organic fertilizers work great in inground plantings but less than great in a container setting. Dry organic fertilizers or organic soil amendments need to go through a process of mineralization or conversion to plant accessible inorganic salts and that can only be accomplished by a plentiful and complex soil biology. Quite a bit more than just some random decay bacteria wafting on the breeze!

Because the ideal container potting soil contains no soil at all and the very minimum amount of decomposable organics (like compost), there is just not much opportunity to provide, develop or even encourage the vast populations of soil biology necessary to accomplish this conversion. If it doesn't exist and in sufficient numbers, then very little of the applied organic nutrient sources are going to be processed adequately and in a timely manner.

Many will claim that organics and containers work well together but the science is against them and it is difficult to make an accurate assessment visually. It's somewhat amazing how well plants will grow and flower with just the minimal attention from fertilizers and sometimes none at all. But that doesn't mean their growth is optimal or the plants are thriving.

Since it is so simple to provide ALL the nutrients - both macro and micro - that container plants need and in the ratios best formulated for their optimum growth with many synthetic water soluble or liquid fertilizers, why leave it to chance to rely on the very iffy contribution of organically sourced ferts?

"Many will claim that organics and containers work well together but the science is against them and it is difficult to make an accurate assessment visually."

Yes, that's why I've had the soil tested as part of assessing soil testing labs.

"It's somewhat amazing how well plants will grow and flower with just the minimal attention from fertilizers and sometimes none at all. But that doesn't mean their growth is optimal or the plants are thriving."

That's...not true and has been proven false in my containers. So many will claim that organics and containers don't work well together, but the proof is against them and it's difficult to make an assessment when the plant growth and evaluations are actually proving them wrong.

That's also a very weird statement to make and one that's frankly self-contradictory and feels like it's grasping at straws simply to prove a point. (turns head) I see tons of thriving plants, one covered in blossoms in November. I think I'm going to believe my "lying eyes" here, but thank you so much for your input.

Surely there is some non-zero amount of microbial activity in potting mix...? For example, if compost is used as a potting mix ingredient, the warning is that it continues to break down and become finer in size, and thus affects drainage. That breakdown process must be accomplished microbially. GG, I know you said the microbial population has to be not only present but sufficient so maybe that's the issue. I would be interested in the science on this - how does one determine this by direct measurement? Of the soil, nutrients or microbes, for example, rather than observing plant growth?

Excellent question. I actually never stated it was as fast as, say, in the gardens (if you read my post above again, I specifically noted it was the opposite and said there are no shredding insects--it's slower, and of course you're in a more constrained environment).

Constrained environments actually don't seem to much matter in the real world and when observed. That scoffed-at bacteria blowing on the wind, when it lands, finds food and doubles. And doubles. And so on. Fast if it's well-fed. "Do you know how long that takes?"

Yes, I've had advanced math. :-) And it's not like it's the only single bacteria tossing about on the breeze, either.

Exponential growth would depend on the time element, of course. But we're not talking about a newly-planted container, here, where you'd definitely want and need to enhance any feeding synthetically for a while while also feeding organically. My corn plant is in soil twenty years old. It's had time to stabilize.

ETA: It's fun to note that urea-based feed also requires bacterial processing. So...in new soils, precisely where is this bacterial processing coming from if bacteria are so rare and weak and not available? The story should be fun as to why urease producers are common, but decay bacteria on compost-based soils are somehow rare and hard to find. I'm finding this thread increasingly amusing just for the mental gymnastics. /ETA

Even the heavily-blossoming ageratum has been in soil since August--enough time that it's on pure organics with just a tad of extra whatever when I forget and water it from the Other Stuff jug, but that's minimal and everything's on 1/8th or less feeding for the winter.

It doesn't ever choke off the soil, so even the reduction to tiny particles does nothing. The soil never goes sterile and awful, so I never need to repot because I'm renewing the soils. When I tested the soils systemically, they tested very well indeed.

So I have no worries that I'm doing Something Awful, and visual evidence shows the plants look fantastic, blossom like champs, and (turns head) that November ageratum currently looks better than most people's June.

If that doesn't mean the plant is optimal or thriving? Yeah, I'll take it because yes, it does mean the plant is thriving. It would need a new pot just due to size, but I can't fit a bigger one on the windowsill. It will simply have to make do.

Based on some lab work I've done with soil that included measuring microbe populations, as well as trying to 'sterilize' it in an autoclave (basically a pressure cooker) which has limited effectiveness: I have no doubt that potting mix ingredients like bark, partially composted forest products (shredded wood etc.), are loaded with millions of microbes as soon as they go in. Maybe not so much with perlite, sand, etc. but anything organic. What happens after that, I'm not and expert on.

@morpheuspa It is a little difficult to follow your posts because you appear to be using more than one kind of container soil mix, yet you never actually say what any of those mixes are. Assuming you actually clarified your container soil mix formulas, then it is not clear which of those containers is getting organic fertilizers, and do you fertilize different soil mixes in different ways.

Yes, I can see that, but I think I'll wait for the explanation of how urea-processing bacteria can flourish in a variety of soils while decay bacteria can somehow not. I'm really quite excited to learn this.

Let's just say I do everything from simply use Miracle Gro moisture control potting soil ( it's fast, easy, and grows seeds, I simply don't have time to mix stratum to grow 10 flats of seeds most times in February and March) to sharp sand plus a bit of peat plus pebbles for the desert roses (I have 12). I don't really measure that out much.

I'm much more relaxed on measuring than most people are because I don't really see much difference between 5-1-1 and if it hits 4.5-1-1.2.

I'll half-hand some sand into basic potting soil and, if I may be blunt, kind of consider the argument about exact mixes a little extreme. Some plants are touchy. Most are not.

I'll make mixes out of bark, compost (bought and usually not that great; my capacity is limited and I usually compost in situ on the lawn as it needs the organics more than anything else), peat, pebbles, and sand.

And I rather like the Miracle Gro, to tell you the truth.

I make no exceptions on organics. Indoors. Outdoors. Tiny pots. Huge pots. Summer. Winter. Although winter only indoors and only tiny amounts.

I have no objection to using a liquid fertilizer--far from it--and will do so myself. With seedlings, they're more effective and faster to react. But I'll also add an organic at the same time. About two-thirds of the calculated nitrogen supply in the main gardens is organic, one third is urea. Pot-wise, half and half early on, moving to mostly organic late in the season--80% or better. Mature indoor plants, mostly organic at 75%. P, K, and most micros are at 100% organic. Other things vary; boron, 100% organic (it's usually OK).

So the situation is rather more complicated than, "How much do you feed organically?"

Some predicted...let's just call them Nitpicks:

"You're not one of us if you use potting soil..."

Please see the No True Scotsman fallacy.

"Osmocote..."

Use it if you like it. It's expensive for what you get, but make sure you research that polymer release mechanism to make sure you're comfortable with that polymer in the environment. Hint: I'm not, but I'm not going to judge you for using it. Much, and I'll roll my eyes if you claim to be "environmental" at any point.

"But we're talking about a mix that's this and not that..."

Yes, I get that. Most of the discussed mixes have some percentage of compost in them, as mentioned above, and the argument is that they're sterile enough not to have decomposition bacteria but somehow magically fertile enough to have plenty of urea-processing bacteria.

"Mixes without compost..."

...still have organic material in them. And quite apart from the claims above, peat moss, while it often starts out sterile, ain't gonna stay that way. Add water and time and poof. It will continue to decay because there's still energy in them thar carbon bonds. See Biochemistry 552, it's all going to go to carbon dioxide (and other base compounds) eventually.

"Pure sand..."

...is not what we're discussing. If you want to, it's easy to show how quickly it gets populated by bacteria and other micros, but does require a microscope and some intellectual flexibility. It will not, per claims, result in a depauperate ecology in the pot as an analysis under a basic microscope will show, but again, this requires investigation to show the vast number of species that manage to populate. Sadly, in the "discussion" above, both seem lacking when discussing organic feeding.

Hopefully that will cover most of the foreseeable nitpicking, because I'll be ignoring most of it. As mentioned, I currently have a low tolerance for it and for toxicity. A good friend of mine has a T-Shirt that reads, "SCIENCE OR GTHO." I want her to make me one. Well, it's not H, but that's what I'll say here.

G is for the Garden that we're always near

T is for the Truth that makes everything clear

H is for the (h)Overalls so many of us wear

O is for the Open mind, there isn't any doubt

So come to the Compost Forum and GTHO!

On the other hand, it's only a gardening forum on the wild and wooly Internet, and they don't pay you enough to stress over it. That's what I keep saying anyway. :-D

Wait, can I get paid to stress over the internet? Can't believe I've been doing it for free all this time.