Soil Troubles...
I was online just looking up some information about natural fertilizers for strawberry plants and happened to come across both of the specifications on the two types of soil I had purchased. Both said in bold lettering "Not for use in containers." So I kind of started to freak out thinking MY BED IS ONE LARGE CONTAINER and then pushed it to the back of my mind and continued looking for strawberry plant fertilizers, without much luck. The next day I start looking into the MG soil and Scott's soil. It turns out that they aren't for containers they are to be used as amendments for ground soil. Now what do I do, I bought 12 bags of the wrong soil and did all this work for what? I wasn't planning on mixing in any of my ground soil. That's why I did all that work with the raised bed. So that I wouldn't have to, ugh! Growing veggies is 50/50, water and soil, and I happen to get 1 fifty wrong. Fantastic. I couldn't sleep most of the night thinking about what ingredients were in potting mix and what was in what I got. I finally fell asleep at about 5am only to have to get up at 10:30am to help my mom run some errands. We spent the day out together and I forgot all about my soil problems. The second I got back, my problems were back. Not being able to relax I got up and went down to the local hardware store to check out the ingredients in potting mix.
Hardware Home Depot...
At the hardware store I took a look around for 1 bag identical to mine and placed it next to an overturned bag of potting mix to compare. It turns out the only difference in the MG potting mix and the garden soil is Perlite or those little things that look like broken up Styrofoam. So I asked the attendant if that was true? Was I getting it right? Did I just need to add Perlite? He said that as far as he knew it wasn't Perlite but Vermiculite that I needed to add. He showed me where both were shelved. I took a look at them both and then went back to the two bags for comparison. I didn't want to go against what he'd said so I headed to Home Depot for Perlite. I know that it's a good idea to add Vermiculite but as far as making the soil I bought into potting mix all I needed was Perlite.
At the Home Depot I grabbed a cart and started searching for Perlite. It was nowhere to be found. I started getting really frustrated with my particular Home Depot this had happened once before, under stocking. I was going to leave but then this really nice older woman (seemed like a big gardener herself) asked if I needed any help. I said 'yes' and asked for the Perlite. She showed me exactly where to find it, INSIDE. They don't keep it out in the garden center but inside in the garden section. I grabbed two bags and headed to the seed racks. I grabbed 2 packs of Cherry Belle radishes and a pack of watermelon seeds, just for fun. Then I headed back out to the garden center to get some Organic Potting Mix for the strawberry planter. Considering, that I was making my own potting mix and I had read that poor soil would kill my berries I wanted something amazing and pre-mixed. I looked at both the MG organic and the Vigoro organic potting mix. Vigoro had Perlite in it and MG did not. Want to guess which one I got??? Duh! The Vigoro. I'd learned my lesson. I didn't actually know if Perlite was organic but the rest of the components matched MG ingredient for ingredient.
Back in Patch...
Once I had unloaded everything from the car and into the garden I went into the house to grab my gloves and put on my boots. Perlite should only be worked with (apparently) when wearing gloves. I took that warning seriously for my hands and feet. Back in the garden... I unhooked the twine I was using to section off the area into square feet and started chopping up the soil. At first I was using a small hand spade and it was taking me forever and ever to mix even the first few inches. Then I grabbed an enormous shovel and started hacking into the soil just to get it loose and to make a hole to pour in some Perlite. I poured, mixed, and moved. Poured, mixed, and moved. I was sweating like a pig and cold at the same time. It was windy and freezing every time I stopped mixing, pouring, moving. Finally, I got back to where I started pouring and mixing and the entire raised bed was now speckled in white. It looked good and I could see that the soil even looked lighter. It may have been my hopes coming true in vision but I really think it did. I bought 8 quarts of Perlite and mixed in about 6.5 quarts. I don't know if that was too much or too little but every bit of soil now has a fine coating. THANK GOD! I would have never chosen to do it this way if I had known better but trust me next year I'll do it this way again (it's cheaper). I'll just mix in Perlite as I had soil. The hardest part about this was trying to get the Perlite all the way down to the bottom of the bed. I replaced the twine and went inside to collapse. I was tired, cold, sweating, and not rested but I was anxiety free for the moment!
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