soil/mix for container vegetables?

 



I'm going to do just a few veggies in containers; patio tomato, some
herbs, maybe some green beans in one, lettuces/chard.

So, I noticed they have some "Organic" soil at the stores for vegetables,
for use "in ground".  Is that just a bunch of hokum? I don't see they have
"organic" soil for containers, just good old potting mix.  But they've
made me paranoid now that plain old potting mix is filled with evil!

Seriously,  what might I best use for growing edible veggies in
containers?

 

On 5/16/2010 12:33 AM, barbie gee wrote:

I use cheapest bagged top soil and add limestone for tomatoes and garden
fertilizer throughout the season.  In the spring, I'll skim off top
which may have seedlings from bird feeder, etc. and add more top soil.
Makes no sense to me to grow your own but spend more for materials than
vegetables are worth.

 




    I vote for mixing your own dirt, even if you end up buying
constituents. For "just a few", though you might do as well just to buy
the mix. You might buy just one unit of the mix and see how it compares
mechanically to your garden earth when in containers. Seems to me you
could devise some sort of comparative compaction/drainage measurement.
Subjective, yes, but surely you believe your own lying eyes! LOL ;-)
IME, you shouldn't expect much nutritionally from sto'-bought unless
nutrients are shown on the package.
    Chives, garlic chives, parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, bay,
tomatoes (indeterminate and determinate), eggplant, jalapeno peppers,
bell peppers, all are among plants that I grow in containers that range
in size from quart-sized terra cotta to halves of 60-gallon "olive"
barrels, top-load washing machine tub and basket (separately) and one
very temporary 46-gal plastic storage bin. Except for the bay,
everything is in exactly the same soil as is in my raised beds. I use a
bottom layer of pine straw to improve drainage; doing so may be
unnecessary, but I do it, anyway. Save for the jalapenos, all or some
part of the containerized soil is changed completely as frequently as
each "season" for some but at least every two-three years.
    Down here, with prudent handling, indoor-outdoor jalapenos (in at
night for most of winter) grow for years and years until the year that I
misjudge the overnight low ;-0 The same bottom-heating (solar gain) that
debilitates containerized plants during the warm season also allows me,
in most years, to overwinter at least a few bell peppers and eggplant,
which resume production very early, although, the peppers recover more
slowly.
    As practical matters, I've found overheating of the soil and
restrictive container volume (root crowding, in general, even in the
raised beds) to have the strongest influence over whether my plants
thrive. Tomatoes are very sensitive to overheating, even in the fall. I
use pine straw to protect containers and beds.
--
the Balvenieman
USDA zone 9b, peninsular FL, U.S.A.
"You know what they say: Once you kill a cow,
You gotta make a burger" --Lady Gaga

 



I'm guessing you mean outdoors. But
Nothings going to happen. The organic thing is about  people getting away
from pesticides .
Potting soil is just fine.      I'm only a mediocre gardener, but I have
done a lot of edible plants in containers using potting soil and soiless
mixes.  To have stuff in the winter.   If I was going to do this .  With
little cash expenditures.  I d use a mix of  potting soil, Or  with the slow
release fertilizer.  And a bunch of gravel in the bottom for drainage. Start
them in small containers , then put the whole plant and its root ball into a
bigger container when it fills the smaller pot up. And get bigger containers
then you think you need for the tomatoes. .  This will prevent root binding.
And stunting of growth.  You need to water a lot, as the soil dries out
fast. and have good drainage.  And a general fertilizer.

If I wanted to spend a bit more.  Id use the same potting mix to start . Add
about 20% perlite,  and 50% worm castings  in the bigger container.  Add
some other additives  like bone meal, blood meal,  a little lime, kelp,
seeweed,  Then Id use a fish based fertilizer mixed in water for the life of
the plants .

If you get bugs, Id use Neem oil  sprayed on the leaves.

 

nospam@nospam.none says...


This is a fragment of one issue within the organic sphere and your
statement dismisses the whole sphere of organic culturing of food,
plants and everything. Organic does not rule out the use of
insecticides, but does minimize them, restricts them to specific types
and (more on this when I have time to rant a bit) targets them very
closely to limit collateral damage.