Potting Soil Recipe

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Looking for a potting soil recipe so you can make your own potting soil? Look no further. Below is our favorite basic potting soil recipe for making your own "soil-less" potting mix. And it's organic for those of you who prefer that over the usual chemicals.

You Can Grow It Potting Soil Recipe:

4 gallons sphagnum peat moss
4 gallons perlite
8 tablespoons ground limestone

Thoroughly mix in a large tub or wheelbarrow. Or, you can mix in a TOTALLY CLEAN cement mixer. Store dry in a plastic or wood container. Moisten a few hours before using, to reduce dust.

If you've read our earlier comments on potting soil for container gardening, you know that this mix has very little in the way of nutrients for plant growth. It holds water, yet drains well, making it the best potting soil for container gardens. However, if you want your plants to thrive and produce, you must add some food to our potting soil recipe.

Measure out 5 gallons of your prepared potting soil. To it, add one 20-quart bag of composted cow manure or other high-quality compost. Now add the following ingredients:

1/3 cup blood meal (nitrogen)
1/3 cup colloidal phosphate (phosphorous)
1/3 cup greensand (potassium and trace elements)
1 tablespoon azomite (trace minerals)

There you have a good quality, fertile, organic potting soil for container gardening.

Now that you know how to make potting soil, you have to ask yourself if it's really worth the effort. It's certainly not cost-effective unless you need a lot of potting soil for your container gardening. Most of the ingredients come in very large bags or bales and a few aren't necessarily easy to find. On the other hand, when you use a potting soil recipe to make your own soil for container gardening, you know exactly what's in it. That's an important consideration for organic gardeners.