You often hear the terms garden soil and potting soil or potting mix used interchangeably; however, these are two very different products.
For all of your gardening and landscape projects, using the right type of dirt can makeall the difference forgrowing beautiful, healthy plants that require less water and maintenance.
What is Potting Soil or Potting Mix?
Despite its common name, a potting soil blend may not have any actual soil in it at all.
Most blends made for potting have some type of mulch, typically bark, along with vermiculite or another drainage enhancer. Potting mix also contains a significant amount of nutrients designed specifically to encourage the growth of container-based plantings.
If you grab a handful of potting mix and squeeze, you might notice that it doesn’t clump together at all. This is by design, as container plants can’t grow and thrive unless their roots can move freely through their potting medium.
For that reason, potting mix is also very lightweight.
What is Garden Soil?
Garden soil, on the other hand, is heavy and dense. If you grab a handful and give it a squeeze, it will clump together – at least to some degree.
A good garden mix does contain soil (technically compost), but without added nutrients or mulch. It is designed to hold plant roots in check. Otherwise, the plant may expend all its energy in root growth while becoming stalled out above the ground.
So, when should you use a garden mix and when is potting mix more appropriate?
Which Soil Should You Use for Garden and Landscape Projects?
As we say here at The Dirt Bag, always use potting mix in your pots and garden soil in your garden.
Potting mix is meant to stand alone, as opposed to being mixed in with existing soils. It is a self-contained product designed to provide potted plants with everything they need to grow and thrive.
Garden soil is meant to be spread around.
Mix garden soil in with your native dirt to improve it. Its organic components break down over time, to enrich and improve the native dirt it’s mixed with. Use it for planting flowers, bushes, trees and even fruits and vegetables in your garden.
When you’re ready to plant, dig your planting hole larger than the plant’s root ball. If your dirt is particularly abysmal, dig an even larger hole. Now fill the hole about halfway with garden mix and combine it in with some of the dirt you removed, plus some bat guano or another plant nutrient blend. Settle your plant gently in the hole and fill in the spaces with a garden and native soil mix.
You can also use garden soil as a top dressing throughout your garden and planter beds. This helps hold in the moisture and nourish the dirt all season long.
At The Dirt Bag, our exclusive Garden Soil Plus blend is designed just for Northern Utah. Dark and rich, its organic properties will give you the biggest, healthiest plants, flowers, fruits and vegetables on your block.
Available for delivery in one cubic yard bags or in bulk, call The Dirt Bag today to order your Salt Lake City area garden soil delivery.
FAQs
Potting mix is meant for houseplants, seed starting, and container gardens. Since it's less dense and much lighter than garden soil, it makes it easier to move plant pots around—that's especially important for large houseplants or containers that you need to shift.
Can you use bagged garden soil for potted plants? ›
Don't use it in containers. Since it doesn't have vermiculite, perlite or pumice, it lacks the drainage required for containers. Garden soil won't let plant roots breathe.
How do you turn bagged garden soil into potting soil? ›
Here's how you can convert garden soil into potting soil:
- Break up the soil and sterilize it by baking it in the sun. ...
- Add amendments that improve existing soil aeration and water drainage, like biochar and rice husks.
- Add compost to improve its nutrient levels.
Soil taken from your yard or a garden bed is too dense to use in a pot or raised bed. Instead, for containers, you'll want to use potting mix (also called potting soil), a lightweight and fluffy alternative. For raised beds, you'll want to use a blend of potting mix and garden soil.
Do you use garden soil or potting mix for vegetables? ›
Potting mix is meant to stand alone, as opposed to being mixed in with existing soils. It is a self-contained product designed to provide potted plants with everything they need to grow and thrive. Garden soil is meant to be spread around. Mix garden soil in with your native dirt to improve it.
Why can't you use potting soil in the garden? ›
Use potting soil for growing plants in containers or starting seeds, but not for flower beds or raised beds. It's too expensive for large areas and lacks nutrients to feed plants season after season.
Do you use garden soil or potting soil for grow bags? ›
Grow bags require well-draining soil that retains just enough moisture so the root mass will not dry out between waterings. Bagged products labeled as potting soil or container mix are ideal. Many potting soils contain peat moss but more and more mixes are now using coir (coconut fiber) instead.
Can I mix garden soil and potting mix? ›
Potting soil can be mixed with garden soil for particular cases such as raised beds, but it's not a good mix for containers. Learn more about these different types of soil and how to use them in various types of gardens.
How long can you keep bagged garden soil? ›
3. How Long Can You Store Potting Soil? Opened bags of new potting soil can retain quality for around 6 to 12 months. For unopened and unused potting soil, you can store it for about a year or two before it goes bad.
Why is Miracle Grow bad for soil? ›
The problem with MG is that the nitrogen is derived from synthetic ammonium and water soluble nitrates, producing off-chemicals that are harmful to soil microbes, worms, and all other forms of life in the soil.
The best soil for gardening is well-draining but moisture retentive. While loamy soil is ideal for most plants, it's important to keep in mind that different plants thrive in different types of soils. For example, succulents need sandy soil, and certain trees and shrubs thrive in clay soils.
What is the best soil for a 5 gallon bucket garden? ›
Combine garden soil and aged compost with sand or perlite for an adequate growing medium. The goal is a mix loose enough to drain well but still hold moisture and provide nutrients. Two cubic feet of planting mix fills three 5-gallon buckets.
Can I use potting mix as garden soil? ›
You want to use far more garden soil than potting mix, around a 5:1 ratio. You can also make your own raised bed mix by mixing all the individual parts of garden soil and potting soil, so topsoil, bark or peat, compost, and perlite or vermiculite.
Can you put used potting soil in the garden? ›
It can be dumped directly out of your containers and into established beds and borders. You can use it in raised beds or wherever your yard has holes or eroded areas. It can also be mixed into compost piles. The old potting soil you reuse can help you save money for what all gardeners want: more plants.
Do plants grow better in potting mix or soil? ›
Potting Mix vs Potting Soil: Which One Should You Use? Potting soil's composition makes it suitable for outdoor plants. On the other hand, a soilless potting mix is a better choice for potted plants or a container garden because it: Offers a good balance of moisture retention and water drainage for potted plants.
Can you plant vegetables in potting soil? ›
Use Premium Potting Soil
To grow a successful container vegetable garden, start with great soil - not soil from your yard, but what's known as a potting mix. These mixes, like Miracle-Gro® Potting Mix, contain the right blend of materials to create an ideal growing environment for roots inside a pot.
