Soil Contents of Container Garden

Wed Jul 01, 2009 4:04 pm

Hi all,

The soil in my container garden doesn't stay wet long enough. I used peat moss, bagged soil and cow manure when I set it up. I think I probably didn't use the right ingredients. Anyone have any luck in this area? Thanks

Wed Jul 01, 2009 5:59 pm

When growing plants in containers, you don't actually want the soil to stay wet. You do want it to hold a certain amount of moisture, but you definitely don't want it to be wet. In hot weather, container plants may require watering more than once a day. You can arrange a drip irrigation system for container plants, if watering more than once a day isn't convenient or possible for you.

What proportions of the ingredients you listed did you use to make up your soil mix?

Is the soil mix just drying on the surface, but staying wet deeper down?

Wed Jul 01, 2009 8:30 pm

I'd agree with Kisal, Stacy; it's been hot and you've been having to water a lot. THAT's what you meant to say, right? :lol:

I'll bet that soil has a good mixture as far as plants are concerned; how are they growing?

HG

Tue Jul 28, 2009 3:29 pm

Hi Stacy,
Just to add to what all the other folks said . . . your soil mix sounds like one that should retain water well, so be sure that you're not just noticing the top few inches of soil dry out. This would be typical in summer, but it doesn't mean the container further down (where the roots are!) is dry, too.

And. . . better to err on the side of too little than too much water. You don't want to water-log the roots--that encourages diseases and root rot.

Also--some plants like a lot more water than others (coleus, for instance) and may actually require more water. So be sure to check what you've planted in terms of their water needs.

Hope this helps!
Virginia
www.container-gardening-made-easy.com

Wed Jul 29, 2009 6:16 am

Kisal wrote:When growing plants in containers, you don't actually want the soil to stay wet. You do want it to hold a certain amount of moisture, but you definitely don't want it to be wet. In hot weather, container plants may require watering more than once a day. You can arrange a drip irrigation system for container plants, if watering more than once a day isn't convenient or possible for you.

What proportions of the ingredients you listed did you use to make up your soil mix?

Is the soil mix just drying on the surface, but staying wet deeper down?

Absolutely!

My reggae Roma Tomato growing in a ~15L container was consuming up to 8L/day in its peak growing period!

You need to buy or if possible set up your containers to be self watering i.e. have a reservoir of water at the bottom of the container accessible by roots but not in contact with the soil itself.