The reason I ask is money is tight and I don't have any Potting Mix but I do have 80 pounds of Black Velvet (composted mushroom) and a whole pile of dirt that my husband recently dug up to make flower beds. I also have some Peat Moss I could add in if needed.
I've never done any container gardening but I just inherited three 5-gallon planters and I would love to plant some plants and flowers in them.
What do you think?
Can I use compost and dirt in a container?
This was probably a dumb question, huh?
This message was edited May 11, 2007 4:14 PM
Definitely not a dumb question, but the answer is you really don't want to do that, garden dirt is too heavy and doesn't drain well enough to use in pots. Unless you're planting stuff that does well in a wet/boggy sort of environment, then maybe you'll be OK but otherwise you're asking for problems. If you're willing to buy a couple other things to mix in with the peat moss you might be able to make your own potting mix--see one of tapla's water movement in containers threads, there are some good potting mix recipes in there.
zeoplum,
I just ran across this thread in the tomato forum. It might be of interest to you. Maybe Shoe or KINGEDKING can help you out. It looks interesting, I'm going to give it a shot!
Red
Oops, forgot the link!
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/683877/
This message was edited May 11, 2007 9:35 PM
Red,
That's an interesting idea! I'll have to ask around to find out if there's a saw mill around here. I'm interested to find out what you mix in with it so please let us know!
Stephanie