The Best Soil Might be "Soil-less"

Looking for something in particular?
Search our article library:

 

 

Our Gardening Newsletter

 

Need some advice on how to start a beautiful garden? Sign up for our email newsletter, and receive free gardening articles, resources, and container designs to your inbox.

 

 

Send Me Free Gardening Tips & Articles

One of the most important factors to consider when planting your container garden, is what to plant it in! Your garden will flourish with the right soil mix, water, and sunlight. Which soil mix is the best choice for you, depends on what you’re looking to get from your garden.

Soil-Based Mixes

Although soil-based mixes tend to be the most common, you'll want to consider their pros and cons. These soil-based mixes range from black dirt to trendy potting mixes. You’ll water your garden less with black dirt, as it holds a lot of water. But using only black dirt will compact the roots after watering, leaving only mud behind definitely not ideal for your container garden!

If you are considering using black dirt, you can make it more porous by adding vermiculite or perlite. These inorganic and inactive additives act like styrofoam, creating air pockets in the soil. This will prevent your plant roots from drying out.

Your plants will grow healthy in soil that is rich in nutrients. Our KVG "THE GOOD STUFF" brand fertilizer is the perfect blend to help your beautiful flowers bloom. Excessive phosphorus can seep into groundwater, harm plants and build up in the soil, but our fertilizers contain just the right amount. Your plants will continue to bloom all season by adding:

• Our controlled-release fertilizer when first planting; and

• Water-soluble feed at two-week intervals, until the temperature, reaches 92 degrees (then wait until a cooler spell is forecast to fertilize again.)

Soilless Mixes

Using soilless mixes in your container offers a lot of time-saving benefits to get the most of your garden.  Soilless mixes don’t contain any black dirt and grow healthier plants than soil-based mixes. Their key ingredient is peat moss, which is actually the remains of an organism called sphagnum moss.

To reap the benefits of your garden all summer long, you’ll want to select the right soilless mix. What sets KVG “THE GOOD STUFF” Potting Soil apart from the rest, is our quality peat moss. You’ll save more time with less watering and have healthier plants. Our brand uses long, thick-fibered, Northern Canadian sphagnum peat. The long, thick fibers hold air around the roots, allowing the plants to absorb moisture and nutrients. Most national brands use cheap, short-fiber peat that tends to dry out faster and need replacement more often.

These tips will help you get the best results when using our potting soil:

• Use the potting soil straight from the bag and fill your containers about 3/4 full.

• Remove your plants from their containers and place them in position. You want the soil level to end up being a couple inches below the top of the pot, so you have room to add a good dose of water without washing the soil out.

• The soil around your plants should come up to about the same level as they were in the pots you bought them in. With that in mind, dig a little hole to place each one and add soil around each plant.

• Firm the mix around the plants, but don’t pack it tightly.

• Water thoroughly. After the water is settled you can reposition the plants higher or lower depending on where they end up after the water has settled the soil. It may take filling the pot twice with water to know for sure where the soil level is going to be.

Another important component to soilless mixes is the right amount of fertilizer. Our KVG potting soil saves you the hassle! It contains a starter charge of our KVG "Good Stuff" brand controlled-release fertilizer. Once you’ve tried it out in your container garden, your plants will never want any other mix! We selected these ingredients because they work best.

Our KVG potting soil is made up of the best ingredients:

• Super-long fiber sphagnum peat 75%

• Composted bark 10%

• Perlite 15%

• Wetting agent and dolomitic lime

KVG “GOOD STUFF” brand controlled-release fertilizer (but you’ll still need to use both controlled-release and water-soluble KVG “GOOD STUFF”).

You’ll find our KVG “GOOD STUFF” potting soil and KVG “GOOD STUFF” fertilizer at our greenhouse in Lee’s Summit this spring.

Having a blooming container garden starts with the proper soil. By planting your garden in the right soilless mix and using a properly formulated fertilizer you’ll be able to enjoy your garden all summer long!