Hello! Does anyone here make their own soil mixtures without purchased materials? If you look for home made soil, its usually just a mix of bought ingredients like peat moss, coco coir, perlite etc. Peat moss is fossil, coco coir and perlite is certainly not from around here so definitely transported long ways.
Now, I’m no gardener but I can see that all the native plants around me don’t have any of that luxury, yet they thrive. Compost is the next obvious answer, but if you haven’t yet had time to establish one, what options are there?
I’ve successfully grown plants like tomatoes, strawberries, herbs and salad in a mix of gravel, local manure, topsoil and rotted wood.
I am looking for recipes and information on such mixes as I often struggle with drainage which killed my cucumbers. I need huge amounts of gravel to keep the silty manure from clogging up my pots but 3kg pots become quite silly too and the gravel makes repotting an almost sure death to any roots I want to move.
What are the consequences of using uncomposted organic materials? Some gardeners say soil acidity usually solves itself through microbes, yet the common saying is that it must be composted first.
Happy gardening Cheers
Look around your area for composting facilities. In the US, they usually give it away for free, especially if you have a required community compost pickup program.
There may also have a quarry in the area that will let you grab refuse like shale or slab gravel you could use, but the consistency would be the key there.
Great advice! At least in Germany you usually also can get compost for free from the local compost facility.
In my experience the compost you get there usually a bit wood heavy so adding a bit of nitrogen (in form of horse or chicken manure) further enhances the property.
Yea, i get cow manure from my neighbour but i am very paranoid about bringing in slugs, an abundant pest in most of the country but absent here. Which is why I’m so stubborn on making soil from only local ingredients. I have my own gravel pit so thats no issue, and an abundance of trees. Rotted birch has been good but finding and hauling it in any quantity becomes too much work.
Yesterday was a very frustrating day as every blend I made just turned to poorly draining muck in my pots. Even though my last mix has been perfect for my seedlings. So posted here to get inspiration for soil additives to help with that. I think i will up the quantity of wood chips and try again. Good advice tho, for those leas scared of slugs!