The Patio Gardener's Guide to Potting Soil

Tell me if this is weird:  Last week, I finally had a chance to go buy a pot for my gardenia, gifted to me almost 4 weeks ago by my aunt Olivia (I know, I should've planted it ages ago... where does time go??).  With it, I also bought a large bag of potting soil, which I left in my trunk overnight because it was too heavy to carry up along with the very large pot.  The next morning, on my way to work, I enjoyed the smell of fresh soil in my car so much that I left it in my car for the entirety of the week just so I could smell the fresh soil every time I got in my car....  I have always loved the smell of dirt.

As a side note, my father has always loved the smell of cow fields -- not quite the industrial closely herded cow stink that comes from that part of the drive up the Grapevine but a slightly different cow stink of black and white spotted dairy cows in wide green Dutch fields.  Smells very similar to me (stank), but my father likes it... remind him of home in Holland.

Since I've had dirt on my mind, I have decided to do a post on the types of potting soil.  As I started to read about all the types of potting soil, I realized that this is no simple topic!  So many variations!  So, here it goes...

What is good soil?

Plants need air, water, and nutrients from their soil.  That's why gardeners obsess over their soil type -- Too silty?  May not have enough air if it gets compacted.  Clay?  Likely retains too much moisture for certain types of plants.  Too sandy?  The opposite of clay, it is more likely to dry out.

Well, as container gardeners, we have to pay for dirt, but we get to choose dirt that has characteristics we like.  Like well-aerated soil that will retain moisture and nutrients, and maybe even has some fertilizer in it already.

There are separate variables as well, most notably the acidity of the soil which is often varied by adding lime components which increase the pH (make it less acidic and more alkaline, in case you have forgotten your grade school science).

What is in potting soil?

The main ingredients in potting soil are generally--

-Sphagnum peat moss -- Sphagnum moss grows in bogs.  Sphagnum peat moss is partially decomposed sphagnum moss which is added to soil.  Although there is some debate about the sustainability of this peat moss, it is widely used as a soil additive to improve aeration and water retention.

-Vermiculite or Perlite -- both inorganic materials used for aeration and water retention.  Vermiculite holds more water, perlite aerates a bit more, but they are similar.  Perlite are those bright white balls that look almost like styrofoam that you sometimes in potting soil. 

-Aged composted materials -- nutrients!  This may include manure of various types (the stuff I use has earthworm castings and bat guano)

What are the types of potting soil?

It depends on how specific we want to get, but the main types so far as I can tell include:

-All purpose -- The name is pretty descriptive.

-Premium / Professional (some sources say there is a difference... after some searching, this does not appear to be a broadly agreed upon difference) -- These tend to have additional fertilizer additives. 

-Seed starting mix -- Good medium for your seeds and cuttings.

-Plant specific mixes -- from here, the options are numerous...

*Acidic mix:  for plants that like acidic soil, like blueberries or azaleas... or gardenias apparently.  Oops.

*Cactus mix:  for plants that like well-draining soil like cacti or succulents

*Orchid mix:  specifically for orchids which do not like to have wet roots.  It's actually bark, not so much soil.

*Others... African violet mix, Rose mix, Bonsai mix, etc.

Can I make my own potting soil?

Certainly!  It may be cheaper than buying bags and bags of soil if you're motivated.  The Home Depot website which I have linked has a fantastic chart on how to make your own potting mix using various proportions of the basic soil components.

My approach:

I use all purpose organic potting soil rather than premium potting soils for most of my plants.  I then fertilize intermittently with Miracle Grow, either the regular stuff or Bloom Booster.  I only use organic pest control substances.  Over time as I get better at gardening, I intend to transition over to completely organic gardening.  Especially living so close to the ocean where our drainage can have direct impact on the earth around us, I hate to think that my hobby could have ill-effects on the ocean and the world.  That's an aside.  Maybe I'll write a separate post on the environment sometime.  For my succulents, I use cactus mix, of course.  And then occasionally, I buy special plant specific soils for my blueberries, for instance.

Well, I hope that has been educational.  It's certainly been educational for me...  starting with the fact that the gardenias I just planted this afternoon probably should've gone into acidic soil!  I may be going to the store for some acidic additives.  

Speaking of the gardenia...  I love this pot that I got for my gardenia, both because I love blue and also because it has that Italian terracotta look that I've been obsessed with since going to Italy.  It's not actually terracotta though but rather a light weight polyurethane foam made by this company.  Not cheap, but way lighter and quite lovely...

Always a work in progress...

An aside, I've got upcoming Hawaii on the brain... IZ "White Sandy Beach"

Great gardens: ...In Vegas??

Okay so I debated on whether to include this or not.  Because honestly, it's Vegas, this strange sprout of glittery, gaudy, expensive things in the middle of the desert (I am referring to the Strip, of course, and totally ignoring the fact that it is also a city that normal people live in beyond the Strip).... is there anything natural about Vegas at all?  Plus, everyone who's been in LA for some amount of time has been to Vegas at least once, twice, maybe too many times for those bachelorettes, celebratory trips, and weekends away.

But every time I go, I seek out this little beautiful oasis of freshness that is the "Conservatory and Botanical Gardens" of the Bellagio because I love flowers and they do flowers pretty well.  Is it natural?  No.  But beautiful and worth seeing?  Definitely.

As you walk through the lobby, you'll see the Chihuly glass above along with some elaborate floral centerpieces.

And then you'll make your way into the atrium straight ahead -- follow your nose!  In contrast to most of cigarette-smelly hotel/casino interiors, this room is very fragrant and fresh!

On this visit, there were "fields" of tulips, foxglove, and chrysanthemums, among other flowers...

Also on view was a greenhouse with butterflies.

Lovely!  Unfortunately because of all of the crowds, this was the widest angle shot I could get:

But if you look online, you'll also see that the gardens are very lovely during the day and the exhibit changes throughout the year.

Christmas!  (photo credit below)

Chinese New Year!  (photo credit below)

(Above photo credits: Creativitywindow and vitalvegas)

Love it or hate it -- if you are like most, you probably love-hate Vegas anyway -- the flowers are quite pretty.  And if you find yourself in Vegas this summer looking to escape the heat, noise, or bad odors, make a little side trip to this unnatural botanical oasis.

Here is the official website.  They are open 24/7 almost all days of the year, but if you look on their website, there are a few days between exhibits without an exhibit formally on display, presumably because they have to set up all those tightly packed flowers.

Since we're talking about guilty pleasures, this aside is another one of mine (boy bands -- I was a tween/teen in the 90s and will probably never grow out of them)...  Rixton "Me and My Broken Heart" 

Very catchy.  Aren't they always? :)  Have a good week!

Good Bad Ugly

I hope you have had a wonderful mother's day weekend!  It's been a busy few weeks for me -- first, I had the most wonderful visit from my siblings which we combined with a little trip to Vegas (always fun!) and then it was back to work.  And I have to be honest, the last few days of work have left me totally wiped.  So today was the first day I had to really take a close look at what's going on in my garden.  Being the type that saves the best for last like the dutiful hard-working child I was raised to be, I'll go a bit out of order for this:

BAD:

Fuchsia -- Okay, from afar it looks alright, good even.  I am pleased with the bushiness of the plant (in contrast to an overly tall skinny plant last year).

But the aphid wars continue.  I have admittedly only used the insecticidal soap once, in part because that spot on the front stoop has become sunnier than it used to be and I don't want to risk burning the leaves by spraying at the wrong time of day. 

The result, as you can see, is that the aphids target the new growth (flower buds) which causes the blooms to deform at best...

And not even open at worst.  

Attempted solution:  continue insecticidal soap, rotate with Neem.

Begonia -- *sigh*  Mold.  Specifically Botrytis Blight, according to Google.  

A quick synopsis:  It is a fungal infection of the plant which characteristically looks like my picture above, causing mushy brown-grey dead parts.  Optimal conditions for growing this mold, if that is your goal, include high humidity and crowding plants creating poor air circulation (gulp... guilty).  Recommendations to avoid include removing dead plant parts and watering early in the day to ensure the plants are as dry as possible.  Here is a great summary.  

I think this issue began when I planted the begonias and the leaves were touching the dirt which I watered heavily in the beginning.  Those were the first leaves to go and since then, the problem has been slowly worsening.

Attempted solution:  remove all infected leaves even if only a few leaves remain to try to spare what's left of the plants

UGLY:

Sweet jessamine -- It seems that the life span of these climbing plants is only 2 years (recall what happened to my poor jasmine plant) before huge chunks of it die.

Is it possible that this is yet another case of root rot?  Is there a root ball in the bottom of this pot?  Are these climbing plants just not meant to be grown in pots?  (As a gardening guru once told me, "lots of growth on top means lots of growth in the ground" ...except my patio only has space-limited pots)

Either way, I have been keeping an eye on this for awhile and it seems to be a lost cause... this plant is D-E-A-D (well, pretty much).

GOOD!:

Many good things!  I'll keep this succinct and let the pictures do the talking.

Tomato -- It has already grown a lot

Which I found alarming, given what happened with my heirloom tomato last year (HUGE, no tomatoes), until I saw this:

Hooray!

Geraniums -- Glorious

Hydrangeas -- have not mentioned these in a long while!  Well, let's just say there's this:

Tiny flower buds...

More on this to come as we watch and see what happens.

Gardenia -- New addition to the garden!  Thank you Olivia for the birthday gift!  It smells wonderful!  Later this week, I will be buying a nice new pot to put it in.

Definitely more good than bad in the garden... I'm smiling.  Have a beautiful week!

An aside:  A must watch if you have not already seen it...  Kevin Durant's MVP speech

The Plant Killer

I think the concept of vertical gardening is awesome.  And I have a vertical planter.  Only problem is, my vertical planter kills plants.  Very reliably.  

No matter what I try -- drought-resistant plants, watering every day, plastic baggy "invention," plant nannies and water globes -- I turn my back for a second, and we're looking at this:

or worse, this

Why?  Because the combination of heat with felt bags just dries everything right out.

My husband has started asking me regularly to throw it away.  But I think the concept of vertical gardening is so awesome and I have a vertical planter, so I refuse.  He has started getting creative and suggesting neat alternatives (like a wire lattice with air plants... Ooo, hey...).  And they are tempting.  But vertical gardening!!

Nevertheless, even I am starting to see the futility, so this year, as you know, I am trying something different...  Succulents.

I am very fond of my succulents, and these succulents are ones that I have nurtured for some time now, whether from propagated cuttings or in other pots that they have simply overgrown.

What better to overcome The Plant Killer than the (almost) unkillable succulents?  Good luck, little guys.

I should add that you may notice that the Dipladenia that I blogged about last year as a superhero plant and that is also present in the picture above of the completely dead vertical garden... save for the Dipladenia... is still alive.  Deathless Dipladenia, aka Superhero Plant, I am in awe.  Way to go.

So here's some samples of what I've put in the vertical planter:

A jade propagated newbie which started as this almost exactly one year ago--

Tiny roots

Repotted into a tiny pot

And has now turned into this, with a well-developed root system--

Has a few more leaves too!

Impressive!

I replanted the Echeveria which was nearly murdered by the rack in our kitchen window and in that process sparked this whole discovery of succulent propagation. 

That is all one plant except for the Kalanchoe propagation at far left

 In the process of unpotting and replanting it, a side branch fell off.  Oops.  But it already had a root system developing, so I planted that in another pocket as well.

Mama plant behind

The Crassula perforata branch that I had cut off and tossed into the Baby Succulent Farm, wondering if it would grow roots...  It grew roots!

And here it is, replanted with another repropagated "Kalanchoe Aurora Borealis" as well as a fuzzy succulent friend, "Kalanchoe Chocolate Soldier."

I will be quite sad if The Plant Killer kills them all, but I am taking a few measure against that:

First, instead of the usual very well-draining cactus mix, I added some potting soil (which does not drain as quickly).  The pocket on top is all potting soil and the ones on the bottom are mostly cactus mix, to account for the bottom pockets generally retaining more moisture (effect of gravity while watering).  

I have said before that the best way to kill a succulent is to over-water.  So it will be a delicate balance -- usually I water once a week rather lightly.  With these, I started with a heavy watering yesterday as you should with any plant that you have just planted, and intend to do a light watering 2-3x per week until established... and then we'll see.  And no watering with a hose to avoid excessive moisture.  That's the game plan!

I have had such success with propagating succulents that I have relegated another pot to a second Baby Succulent Farm.  Soon I will have to start giving succulents away!  There are so many!

Look at that teensy tiny baby succulent at the end of the leaf in the middle... Can you see it??

Meanwhile my other cuttings continue to grow (taken last week)

I love it.  Well, as you read this, I am in Las Vegas with the siblings, so I leave you with this fascinating aside (ever wonder what people would be like if born during a different generation?  Like would an Elvis born in 1983 be famous now?) ......Anyway: Elvis "Viva Las Vegas!"