What is the best soil for your plants?

How do you pick the best soil for your plants? I think selecting soil can be where a lot of people hit analysis paralysis or they simply give up because of cost.  Soil is undoubtedly the most expensive aspect of gardening that is absolutely necessary.  

Are there other things that cost more than soil for your garden?  Sure.  You could buy fancy wood for your garden beds, BUT that is not necessary to make your garden grow.  You could buy a bunch of cattle panels for trellis, making gardening easier, BUT that is also not necessary to grow.  

Soil is necessary for the growth of your garden and will be your biggest necessary cost.  However, you don’t have to break the bank and we will get to the money saving below.  

Types of soil

First, let’s talk a bit about different soil types.  If you walk into your local hardware store or big box store like Home Depot or Lowe’s, you will undoubtedly find similar bags of soil.  Most commonly, you will find potting soil, raised bed soil, and in-ground soil.   

These seem self explanatory but there can be some confusion about what you should use in different applications.  

Potting Soil

Potting soil should be used for your seedlings that you are up-potting.  It should also be your soil choice for most potted plants.

Raised Bed Soil

Raised bed soil is as may be obvious for raised garden beds, but it is NOT your only option for raised garden beds.  

In-ground Soil

In-ground soil is aimed towards the person who is growing without a garden bed, tilling in fresh dirt or just piling it directly on top of the ground.  This is also NOT the only application for this soil.  

Soil Amendments

Other items you might see alongside your garden soil are amendments. These are meant to feed back to the soil after the nutrients have been depleted.  We will touch on this in another blog.

Soil applications based on soil type

Strictly talking about bagged soil for the moment, it may be hard to find organic raised bed soil or it may simply be expensive.   Another option would be mixing an equal ratio of potting soil and in-ground soil for your raised beds.  

The reason for mixing the two is because potting soil does not have enough nutrients on its own for your garden and in-ground soil would be too concentrated on the fertilizer aspect for a compacted space.  

In-ground soil is high in fertilizer and is what is normally added to in-ground gardens.  It can be tilled into the soil or simply added as a dressing. 

So what REALLY is the best soil for your plants?

None of the options we just spoke about are wrong choices.  However, they are expensive and can often be contaminated with unwanted pesticides that may prevent your garden from thriving. 

You might think having pesticides is an ok thing because then you won’t have bugs, right?  Pesticides are chemicals, which is one of the reasons you are growing your own food, so that you know what is in your food.   Some pesticides are so rough that they will kill everything that tries to grow in your garden.  

Bulk Soil

Where else can you be sourcing soil then?  Check your local nurseries to see if they provide bulk compost or mushroom soil.  Depending on where you live, you may also find that your local hardware store carries bulk soil.  There is even a storage facility near me that carries bulk soil.  

You can inquire where their compost or mushroom soil is sourced from so you know whether or not it is organic.  They may even let you take a sample of the soil to test before purchase.  

Soil sold in bulk is sold by the scoop (roughly 27 cubic square feet), that is about 13 bags of soil that are 2 cubic square feet each.  If you bought 13 bags of raised garden bed soil it would cost around 202.00.   The same amount can be bought for about 30.00 in bulk.  Think about that for a moment….that is 172.00 in savings.  For an extra 40.00 you could have that soli delivered……you would STILL be saving 132.00 dollars. 

Cost Breakdown

To really put it into perspective – I needed about 6 scoops of soil to fill two 50 foot long beds, 3 feet wide, 1 foot tall.  That would cost around 1,248 dollars in bagged soil.  You could instead buy 6 scoops of soil for 30.00 a scoop (180.00 total).  Want it delivered?  Most places cost 40.00 in delivery – that is only 220.00 for BOTH the soil and having it arrive at your home and dumped in the location of your choice.  You saved roughly 995.00.  Seems like a no-brainer. 

Compost vs Mushroom Soil 

Now that you are sold on buying bulk – what is the difference between compost and mushroom soil?

Compost is organic matter piled up and turned over consistently throughout the year.  It is allowed to break down until it has turned back into soil.  Compost might include leaves, grass clippings, mulch, twigs, roots, etc.  

Pro: A good batch of compost adds organic matter back to your soil and therefore nutrients to feed your plants.  

Con: If compost has not been broken down all the way, it may be too chunky to grow in and can add too much nitrogen into your soil at that stage.  

Mushroom soil is the byproduct of growing mushrooms.   

Pro: In my experience, just about anything will grow in mushroom soil and will do so very well.  

Con: Two different mushroom growers may produce two VERY different mushroom soils.  

I highly recommend shopping around and comparing to other locations before purchase.  My first load of mushroom soil was very compact and clay like. It had to be top dressed with a mix of in-ground and top soil.   A second load from a different supplier looked like a magnificent mound of compost perfectly aged and ready to be grown directly in without any additional soil required. 

Final Thoughts

It doesn’t matter if you have an in-ground garden, raised garden beds, or a container garden; you can save money buying bulk soil for all 3.  Buying bulk also means sourcing the soil locally where you can ask if it is organic.  You may also be able to ask for a sample of soil to take home for testing before making a large purchase.  For a more in-depth price comparison and ways to save money on building materials for raised garden beds, check out this companion blog How to Source Cheap Materials For Garden Beds.