How To Make Potting Soil
One of the essential gardening supplies is potting soil. You use this for your potted plants that you want to have on display on your patio or porch. You will also use a lot of potting soil for container planting if you have little gardening space and want to grow vegetables. It can get expensive to buy lots of potting soil. A less expensive way is to learn how to make potting soil of your own.
When you make your own potting soil, you can tailor it to your own needs and enrich it as you want. Here are a variety of different recipes that you can use to make your own potting soil that will be just right for what you want to plant. Some of them have peat moss and some are without. Others use added fertilizer or other soil amendments. Take a look at the potting soil recipes and find the some that you like. Also, take a look at the video of someone mixing his own potting soil
Potting Soil Mixture With Peat Moss
Potting Soil Recipe 1 – All Purpose Mix
8 quarts potting soil with vermiculite or perlite
1 quart coarse sand
4 quarts sphagnum peat moss, compost, and/or rotted manure
Mix all ingredients thoroughly
Potting Soil Recipe 2 – Lightweight, Enriched Potting Mix
8 quarts potting soil
1 quart perlite
1 quart vermiculite
8 quarts sphagnum peat moss
1 cup greensand
1 cup gypsum
Mix all ingredients thoroughly
Potting Soil Recipe 3 – Soilless Potting Mix
watering seedlings
8 quarts sphagnum peat moss
1 quart perlite
1 quart vermiculite
Mix all ingredients thoroughly
Potting Soil Recipe 4
1 part peat moss
1 part perlite
1 part perlite
1 part compost
1/2c garden lime
1/8c bone meal
Mix all ingredients thoroughly in 5gal bucket. Sift if needed through siev.
Potting Soil Recipe 5
7 parts loam that has been sterilized
3 parts peat moss
2 parts sharp sand
3/4 oz ground limestone
4 ounces of 14-14-14 osmocote or other slow release fertilizer
Mix all ingredients thoroughly.
No Peat Moss Potting Soil Mixes
Peatless Potting Soil Recipe 1
1 Part Aged Compost (homemade) or 1/2 Aged Compost, 1/2 Aged Manure
1 Part Coconut Coir
1 Part Pumice or Perlite
1 Part Sand
Mix thoroughly.
Don’t use fresh manure or compost – has too much nitrogen.
If you buy coco coir in bricks, you need to hydrate it first.
Peatless Potting Soil Recipe 2
2 parts compost
1 part vermiculite or perlite
Mix well. Makes light mixture.
Peatless Potting Soil Mixture 3
For root cuttings)
2 parts sharp sand
1 part loam
1 part leaf mold
Mix all ingredients thoroughly
Peatless Potting Soil Recipe 4
Use for seedlings
2 part sharp sand
1 part loam
1 part leaf mold
Mix all ingredients thoroughly
Peatless Potting Soil Recipe 5
For general potting
1 part sharp sand
2 parts loam
1 part leaf mold or humus
1/2 part dried cow manure
1 1/2 c bone meal per bushel of the mixture
Mix all ingredients thoroughly
Peatless Potting Soil Recipe 6
General potting
2 parts sharp sand
2 parts loam
2 parts leaf mold or humus 1/2 part dried cow manure
1 1/2 c bone meal per bushel of the mixture
Mix all ingredients thoroughly
Peatless Potting Soil Recipe 7
For hardwood plants
2 parts sharp sand
2 parts loam
2 parts peat moss
1 part leaf mold or humus
1/3 part dried cow manure
Mix all ingredients thoroughly
Peatless Potting Soil Recipe 8
For succulents
2 parts sharp sand
2 parts loam
1 part broken flower pots or soft brick broken into small pieces
1/2 part leaf mold or humus
1 1/2 c bone meal per bushel of the mixture
1 1/2 c ground limestone per bushel of the mixture
Mix all ingredients thoroughly
Making your own potting soil mixtures, adding the ingredients you like and having it ready to use is one way you can be ready for that special plant for your garden. Plus, you will have the satisfaction of having made the mixture yourself. And you should save some money when you make your own.
Home Garden Diggers 
Thank for posing the potting soil mix recipes. I am experimenting with making my own mixes as well and am looking for recommendations on the amount of time release fertilizer to incorporate. I was thinking to use your Potting Soil Recipe 5 as a starting point but the mix combines relative quantities (parts) with absolute quantities (ounces) so there is no way to know how to scale the recipe without knowing the actual volume or weight of the “parts”. For instance if my parts are cup size or gallon size it will make a big difference in the concentration of fertilizer in the final mixes if I use 4 ounces for reach recipe. If my parts are cup size it may be too much fertilizer and if they are gallon size it may be too little.
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