I've recently been reading about soil mixing here on gardenweb, and am about to do a big project where I am creating new beds. I seek advice on how to make "good" bedding soil, from products commonly available at Lowes and Home Depot because these are local to me.

I usually use Garden Pro compost and manure. Bags of topsoil are highly variable in quality (one of the reasons for this post); Scotts topsoil seems mostly mulch, and Garden Pro topsoil seems too fine and granular with ingredients of "blended mineralized soil" and ground limestone - this seems a poor choice. I just tried and think I like Miracle Gro garden soil but it is not cheap.

Sorry for the long post. But can someone offer me some wisdom for how to make fairly nice general garden soil from named commonly available products. I've made a lot of soil, but I'm no expert and I'm rethinking what I normally do.

thanks for your help,
growitnow
zone 7

You could also visit the Soil, Compost and Mulch forum here on GW. They can be very helpful, though some are a bit intense. Good luck.

Martha

I have always diligently improved my soil by doing 3" of shredded leaves, 3" of homemade compost, 3" of purchased compost and 3" of peat, 3" composted manure. That was so I could plant immediately. In the other areas for future planting I would just continue to cover every fall with the leaves. By covering with the leaves the worms did the work for improving my clay. I do not use any store brought topsoil. My topsoil is always my compost.

Also I have been told never ever add sand when you have clay soil.

I would suggest you look up lasagna gardening, which is what I think marquest is doing as well. You have several inches of each type of amendment and just layer it and it breaks down, improving the soil underneath and allows you to plant in it immediately.

I will take a look at what I buy from lowes, but it is a compost in a blue bag with an earth pictured on it, if I remember correctly. I have been very happy with it. I would use that and manure and leaves, as many as you can collect, if I were amending the soil. That is what I do and it works very well. It will help tremendously for breaking up that clay soil! I buy everything in the bag from lowes or my local soil place (except for the leaves), I have no room for composting on my own. Just be sure to topdress with manure and/or compost once to twice a year to keep the process going and your soil will thank you for it. I second the not adding sand to clay soil as well.

I dug in about 6" of commercial compost to start and top dressed with about 3-4" twice a year for many years. Now I can get by with a lot less because my soil is so rich. I used to have to buy commercial compost (very cheap if you have your own truck) but now mainly I can make enough for my needs. It's still a little chunky when I apply it, but I have never seen any need to screen compost you are using as a mulch. It actually holds up better as a mulch if it isn't as fine.

The mixes mentioned here sound more like what I would use as potting soil.

As an aside, I tried the Garden Pro compost & manure and I HATED it. They have a ton of clay mixed in there (they even say it on the ingredients) and that's all I need, more clay! This and the Harvest Top soil basically the same price (2.78 a bag), but the Harvest blows the Garden Pro out of the water in quality. The real "tell" was when I added the Garden Pro to the top of a big pot that took full sun and it hardened (just like clay would) and I had to break through it to loosen it up again. Not a good sign. Harvest is sooooo much better. I use it everywhere.

To get started, you might also want to try the lasagne method with layers-very easy.

Good luck.

There is virtually NO soil that cannot be improved by the addition of organic matter. And for organic matter, read compost although pretty much any other organic matter (leaves, grass clippings, yard waste, manures, wood chips, etc.) will work equally as well but perhaps far less quickly. Addtion of organic matter will lighten heavy/clay soils, improve drainage, encourage soil biology, improve soil structure and porosity, add fertility and increase moisture retention in very sandy soils. Adding organic matter is the number one recommendation by soil scientists and horticulturists for improving any type of soil.

And 'quickly' is relative. Amost without exception, few of us start out gardening in ideal soil. But over time the routine addition of organic amendments can produce a very friable, workable, well-draining and fertile soil. And this process needs to be maintained as well. Just by its nature, organic matter is not long lasting. It continues to degrade and breakdown and be consumed by soil organisms so needs to be replaced on a routine basis. Typically mulching is the easiest way to achieve this.

There is a Soils and Compost forum here on GW where you can find countless posts discussing this matter. One needs to be cautious about terminology - "topsoil" is technically defined as the first 4-6 inches of uncultivated soil (usually removed during development and construction) but it can mean just about anything anyone wants to stuff into a bag and sell. And by definition, ALL soil is organic unless the supplier has manually added synthetics like soil moisteners or fertilizers.

FYI..... I add the peat because we do not get good rainfall in the summer and the clay gets hard, dry and kill the plants. Clay is great if it is moist and stay moist but no rain for months and 90 degree temps will kill your plants.