Wal Mart organic soils this year!

[Bobberman]

I was at Wal mat today and noticed some inexpensive soil mixes! Organic humas 40 pounds $1.29 its humas and manure. top soil 40 pounds a mix of compost ash sand and natrual soli & peat. . Also they has scotts top soil .75 cf for $1.99 is rganic material and peat. Mircle Grow garden soil 1.5 cf for $5.48 peat and manure! I bought one of each and will check them out! I then went to Lowes and they had a sack of tomato and veg plant mix 1.5 cf that was $6.95 with a sign last of for $1.86 so I bought 5 bags but may get 5 more tomorrow! Now that was a real good deal since 6 bags would be 1/3 cubic yards for less than $12 and it looks like good stuff!

[rainbowgardener]

You always tell us all your great ideas while they are still theoretical and don't do much coming back and telling/showing us how they actually worked out in practice.

So tell us what this cheap stuff from Wal-Mart turned out to be like once you opened the bag up and how it ends up working for you to grow stuff in.

It's easy to find cheap "soil" "compost" etc in bags. Sometimes it turns out to be what they dug out building something, or sewage sludge, packed hard and with all the air and life compressed out of it, etc.

[Bobberman]

YA I hear YA in the distance! Ideas take time especially with gardening! The why and how & how much cost is the most important to me! The results only confirm part of what you do and if you can repeat it successfully!

[Kisal]

I have to agree with rainbowgardener. There is such a thing as "false economy". Just because something is cheap, it doesn't necessarily follow that it's worth buying. Witness your purchase of [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=183815#183815]2 bags of ironite[/url]. In the past, I've bought bags of cheap potting mix, gotten them home and opened the bag, only to find nothing but clay dust.

If I need more than a few cubic feet of something, I get a much better deal buying it by the pickup load at the local landscaping materials yard.

And I fail to see how finding something on sale constitutes an "idea". The end results are what is important. JMO.

[Bobberman]

I will use the ironite! I just mentioned that Wal Mart had some good deals for the people here that can't afford to spend oo much. I like all the soils I bought at Wal Mart and will bu more this week and wil use them in my seed starting boxes. I went back to Lowes today and bought two more of the Tomato vegetable organic plant mix so I have 7 bags now!. I opened the bag and it is the nicest mix I have bought in the last few years. $1.86 for 1.5 cubic yards and good deal for me! Don't complain guys use your time to post more good things like you have in the past! I am just a old man trying to make life more exciting for everyone through gardening! Another point is that because something is expensive it does not always make it good!

[Charlie MV]

Lowes changes it's composted manure supplier annually it seems.

My first year gardening, I bought some stuff that was so heavy with manure that after I spread 120- 40 lb bags, it looked like I had frosted a cake. It SHINED! The stench was powerful. Neighbors stopped by to see what in the world I had done. I left it on the surface for a few days because I enjoyed the attention and the shiny huge area was just so unusual, I hated to do away with it. when I plowed it in, the odor mostly disappeared.

We had a tremendous crop that year.

The next year Lowes had a different brand. This batch used a bit heavier percentage of compost with the manure. The odor was much less pronounced and much less entertaining. But again , the yield was even better.

I use the best sensor I know to buy composted manure, my nose. If I don't get a decent whiff of manure, I pass. $1.15 to 1.50 seems to be the going rate for composted manure unless you buy Black Cow which is in the $5 a bag range.

As long as I smell manure, I've had great success.

We have had some really good manure conversations over Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. We have about 25 for each. The manure discussion really bothers my snooty niece so we really lay it on thick. No pun....

[Odd Duck]

When I bought Scotsman's Choice, it was very heavy clay with no hint of manure smell. I was extremely disappointed, to say the least. I will never buy it again. It was more dense clay than my native soil and that's some pretty sticky black gumbo to have for comparison.

[Bobberman]

This tomato & veg plant mix I got at lowes was $6.95 and I got it for $1.86. I looked at the back of the 1.5 cu foot bad and it ha the Ferry Morris name on it! Look for it it may be in your store also discotinued or last years stock! Really nice brown soft fine mix.

[Charlie MV]

Bobberman, do you put much effort into composting?

I use almost nothing but compost now that I make myself via hot composting. We make massive amounts and I have reduced my manure usage to every other year. I miss the manure stories but plain old compost is hard to beat.

[ozark_rocks]

Thanks for the information Bobber, but I don't buy soils or much of anything else at walmart. I prefer the mom and pop type places, and I hate those bags you can't see into. I alway ask if they have busted bags, so I can see what I'm getting ,and they usually discount it too. I've brought home some real junk(not manure) that was unusable by not looking first.

[Bobberman]

That is why I buy one bag first to see if I like it. I only use the bagged soils for my seed starting for only the top three inches of my containers!

[Sunflower7]

My problem is I have hard time of trusting top soil in bags knowing we never know where come from.
What I am afraid is toxic soil in vegetable garden.
I am ordering raised bed but where can I find non toxic organic soil?

That was very rare case but British woman used cow manure on her rose and infected with mad cow disease and lost her life.

Is it possible for us to have cancer causing chemical in top soil if we are not careful?
How can we choose safe clean top soil for vegetable garden?

[lovely_star]

Oh boy I hope they have these soils available at my local walmart...springs a commin'