A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Banter Hall Gardener's Chat What kind of soil???

It is time to add soil to my encased flower bed. I will be buying bagged soil. I am asking for opinions on what kind of soil I should buy? I had thought of buying peat and topsoil and mixing it, but then I saw what was called garden/flower soil. That sounded like a good idea. Since I am obvoiusly at a loss as to the best thing to do, I decided to ask for opinions.
PS No I do not have my own compost pile, so that idea is out for the present.
the flower bed is 14 ft x 4 ft. I need to add between 1 and 2 inches of soil.

You can buy compost Carol. I would mix some compost in with whatever it is you decide to get. As for the best kind to get, that I can't really help you with. The only time I ever buy any is for pots and obviously I buy potting soil. I'm sure somebody will have great info for you though. Good luck!!

Do you have soil already there? If so, what I do is work in bagged compost (if my pile isn't ready to use cuz I only have one pile). I get it at Lowe's and it's pretty cheap - like $1.47 a bag.

I just looked it up. We mixed peat moss with top soil.--and then I mixed in a bit of miracle grow garden & flower soil on top.

I cannot mix in any soil really well because I have existing perennials growing here--so I am going to add a bit of soil each year to get everying to its proper height.--(the treated lumber is taller than the old edging I had here at the first, and on top of it all the old edging allowed some of the soil to wash away.) if it were at its proper height then yes I could just mix in some compost between each flower--I guess I still could do so.

although I have read to add compost in the fall or winter???

Carol I add compost when ever I need it, doesn't matter what season it is, or Whether it's turning it into the existing soil or using as a top dress.
IF you buy compost you really have to be careful what brand you buy,,More $ doesn't mean Best Compost, IF there is a broken bag in the pile look at it closely,, Some of the bagged compost they sell isn't good at all.
Look for
*
looking at it should be granular with little or no recognition of wood.
*it should be the color of dark brown or black
* touching should feel soft and light

*it should be moist ,,, but not soggy or completely dry
* Sniff it,it should smell "earthy" almost woodsy, but being in a plastic bag can restrict the organisms that release the earthy odor by not enough oxygen getting to it
Most bagged composts will probably have a slight musty or barnyard odor when you first open them, and that's fine :wink:


*If it smells like ammonia or gas don't buy it it's not fully decomposed and will damage your plant. *


I also Buy Mushroom compost from Home depot,, Sorry I don't remember the name,, But I love it and my plants seem to love it too.
You may want to call them first to see if they ( your Home depot) carry's it. I believe the bag is purple , green and white. I add that to existing soil as well/ and top dress my brugs with it.
For existing plants I just toss up the soil around the base and add either my compost or mushroom compost and stir that up in it a bit and water it in.

when I do have to buy soil, I like miracle grow. it is a bit pricey though. if I had a big area to add soil to, I'd probably go with the bagged compost as others have said above.

What Angelbloosom said above was good advise.

Couple of tips--

If they seem to have a lot of broken bags, you can sometimes get them to discount them 1/2 price or more.

As above, do call to find out if they have it. Go on the web site, find the one you want, and then get the store SKU #. Then call the store and ask them to look up what their on-hand inventory of the sku is. Fewer communication problems that way.

wanna hear a funny?? the master gardener at my favorite nursery told me that he uses potting soil in his flower beds said it was expensive but advisable.

That's interesting. Do you think he's on commission?

No he is not--he and his dad own the place--and I was not buying dirt from him---just a customer asking to pick his brain. He said he uses the same stuff at home that he uses to pot up his plants there to sell.

They sell a varieties of soil there.

You know, my gardening place has a big pile out back where they dump all of the potting soil & spent plants at the end of the season. It's huge, a bit weedy, little bit of trash (plastic plant id things). He sells it for like $5 a big trash can full. So I got some the year I got my citrus that needed to be planted in huge pots & I couldn't afford to buy real potting soil. All in all it worked out well for my purposes.

But it does sound expensive to plant your whole garden in potting soil.

That sounds like a good deal Marica !! My DH just told me that a grocery store near here was doing a year-end clearance of potting soil for $3.++ a 40# bag.--he almost bought me some--(why do men be stupid & tell you what they "almost did"???)
I think I will drop over there tomorrow and see if there are any left----if there are I will buy them and suppliment with bagged compost.--I went to the Dollar General today to see if they had any potting soil left---and of course they did not.

ok so today I went o ut and DID buy the 6, (40 lb) bags of potting soil that Rod has seen at the grocery. If he calles on his way home tonight, I will have him pick me up 2 or 3 bags of compost. otherwise I will go out this evening after supper and pick up a few bags muself.

Mysery solved. I decided to stop stressing about it---I do after all have Miracle-Gro Bloom booster so all is good.

Thanks to everyone for all your advice.