Well Drained Soil Mix

An alternative to using garden soil is to use a cheap bag of all purpose potting soil.

Well drained soil mix.

Compacted clay soils are notorious for encouraging. How to create well draining soil. Simply put well drained soil is soil that allows water to drain at a moderate rate and without water pooling and puddling. Sphagnum peat moss is well draining and well aerated but it s very low in available nutrients and it has an acidic ph typically ranging between 3 5 and 4 5.

When soil drains too quickly the plants do not have enough time to absorb the water and can die. It provides plants with iron for lush green growth and enhanced water filtration. It bulks up potting mixes without adding a lot of weight and once wet it holds water fairly well. This soil is usually just as good as or better than garden soil.

Your cherry will be dead in a year if you plant it on. Soil drainage is a very important factor to consider when planting salvia agastache lavender penstemon and other perennials that like well drained soil. Limestone is added to peat based potting mixes to help balance the ph. When vermiculite is dry it looks like spongy flakes.

Just add the peat and perlite for aeration. Potting soils with vermiculite are good for plants that like a lot of water and for starting seeds. Well drained soil is a soil where water infiltrates at a medium rate somewhere between running off and draining as though someone pulled a plug. Sphagnum peat moss comes from sphagnum bogs.

When added to soil it helps increase air space and improves water drainage. Well that s not a problem they responded i m planting on a slope so water drains right past it sloping soil is usually poorly drained i replied. There are few things a gardener can do that will improve a garden more than creating well draining soil. The essential element in well drained soil is oxygen which is just as important as water in growing healthy plants.

Vermiculite also helps aerate the soil so it doesn t pack down. For cactus plants or succulents you may wish to add a little sand to this potting mix. These soils do not drain too quickly or too slowly. I was explaining to someone recently that flowering cherry trees absolutely require well drained soil to succeed.

Lime increases the ph of a potting mix to around 6 0 and is ideal for plant growth in containers. Sulfur helps lower soil ph by reducing excess alkalinity.