The Best DIY Soil Mix Recipe - the Imperfectly Happy home (2024)

The best DIY soil mix recipe has been a long time in the making. This DIY soil mix isn’t just something I threw together on a whim and hoped it worked; I spent a lot of tireless hours researching this! I love this soil as a DIY potting soil and for my Square Foot Garden Boxes.

I’ve been using a combination of Mel’s Mix and potting soil on our little homesteading; and the results haven’t been horrible. But I wanted to take our garden to the next level. I wanted a DIY soil mix that would hold moisture, be full of rich nutrition, be lighter (less compaction) and more sustainable. The result is the best DIY soil mix recipe around!

The Best DIY Soil Mix Recipe - the Imperfectly Happy home (1)

The Best DIY Soil Mix Recipe

DIY Potting Soil and Raised Bed Recipe
I mixed mine up in a wheel barrow this time but this makes mixing a lot harder. It would be better to do this on a thick tarp.

10 gallons of coconut coir(What I used)
5 gallons of sifted compost (Hopefully you’re composting at home)
2 gallons of worm castings(what I used)
8 quarts of organic vermiculite (what I used)
5 cups of Azomite (what I used)

I like to mix in each ingredient at a time.

  1. So first I put down the coconut coir, then I added my sifted compost and used my hands to incorporate them together.
  2. I repeated that with the worm castings and vermiculite.
  3. Lastly I added the azomite (be careful not to breathe the dust in!)

The Best DIY Soil Mix Recipe - the Imperfectly Happy home (2)The Best DIY Soil Mix Recipe - the Imperfectly Happy home (3)The Best DIY Soil Mix Recipe - the Imperfectly Happy home (4)

Now it is ready for use or you can store it in a bin or bags. I like to keep a top on it so it won’t get too dried out.

Check out this side by side comparison. On the left is a popular store-bought raised bed soil and on the right is my mix.
The Best DIY Soil Mix Recipe - the Imperfectly Happy home (5)

Now, let’s talk about the ingredients and why I included them

Ingredient 1 – Coconut Coir

Coconut coir is, first, a wonderful peat moss substitute. Peat moss is not sustainable; we are mining and using it at such a high ratecoconut coir that it cannot renew before we run out. Coconut coir is leftoverfrom the coconut industry, that was thrown away. What coconut coir does is add a spongy quality that it going to help your soil retain moisture (it can hold 10x its weight in water). It doesn’t clump and will not degrade in your soil as quickly as peat moss either. It will as a dried brick and you’ll need to soak this in some water to re-hydrate it. If you have coconut coir left over, don’t throw it away! Just store it for the next time you make your DIY soil mix. I soak mine in a tub and break it up a little as I go.

The Best DIY Soil Mix Recipe - the Imperfectly Happy home (6)Ingredient 2 – Worm Castings

Worm castings are an amazing natural fertilizer. What’s great, too, is that plants soak up its nutrients quickly so it can stimulate growth better than any manure or chemical fertilizer. It can even help a plant fight off diseases by drawing out toxins. Worm castings also improve the texture of the soil, help to increase drought resistance AND it promotes good microbial activity. The best way to get this amazing additive is to be vermicomposting with your own little worms. But it isn’t a project I have going right now, so I opted to buy mine.

Ingredient 3 – Sifted Compost

I love compost – it is basically free soil, when you do it yourself. This fertile soil builder is a must have for homestead gardens. I like to sift mine because I don’t need “uncooked” materials continuing to break down and heat up the soil (120 degrees isn’t unheard of in Phoenix).

If you need some help getting started with compost check out Compost 101. If you decide to buy it, just make sure you’re getting it from a reputable supplier that is using organic materials without pesticides or other junk.

The Best DIY Soil Mix Recipe - the Imperfectly Happy home (7)Ingredient 4 – Organic Vermiculite

Vermiculite helps keep soil from compacting but it also great for water retention. I live in a desert climate so I want to have ingredients that help my soil retain water. If you’re in a climate that gets a lot of rain you might want to consider perlite instead. Both are great additives but vermiculite is more sponge-like. So depending on your climate, choose what suits your needs.

Ingredient 5 – Azomite

Azomite (pronounced ā-zō-mite) stands forA to Z Of Minerals Including Trace Elements. Azomite is going to give your soil a power punch of minerals. What’s great about Azomite is that it is a slow release. So while your compost and worm castings are giving the initial dose of good nutrients, Azomite is going to follow them. Also Azomite won’t burn you plants…even if you put a ton of it in there.

What’s even cooler is that Azomite has been shown to help gardeners to produce more fruits and vegetables (and bigger) per plant. And the minerals improve the nutrition for US! Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

If you want to read more about Azomite check out Azomite.com

I hope my mix will help take your garden to the next level – I am using this in both my pots and raised bed. It could also be a great amendment to already established beds.

Happy gardening my friends!

More Soil Helpers

HOW TO USE RABBIT POOP FERTILIZER FOR A BETTER GARDEN

HOW TO IMPROVE SOIL WITHOUT A COMPOST PILE

AWESOME SOIL AMENDMENTS FOR YOUR ORGANIC VEGETABLE GARDEN

HOW TO USE ORANGE PEELS FOR A BETTER GARDEN

Related posts:

Hubby’s ContributionEpsom Salt for HomesteadersUsing CilantroVegetables in Pots the Best Veggies to Grow in Containers

The Best DIY Soil Mix Recipe - the Imperfectly Happy home (2024)

FAQs

What is the best homemade potting mix? ›

A standard recipe for a homemade soilless mix consists of half sphagnum peat moss and half perlite or vermiculite. To mix ½ bushel basket or four gallons of media: Start by pouring two gallons of peat moss into the bushel basket. Add two gallons of either perlite or vermiculite and mix thoroughly.

How do you make Mel's mix soil? ›

Mel's Mix is a carefully chosen, balanced growing medium consisting of 1/3 peat, 1/3 vermiculite and 1/3 blended compost. It is ph neutral, nutrient rich, friable, and well draining without drying out. All three ingredients play their part in creating this winning combination.

How to make your own garden soil? ›

Some organic gardeners use 50 percent topsoil, 30 percent high-quality organic compost, and 20 percent organic materials, such as shredded leaves, mineralized soil (check with a landscaping supply company), worm castings, ground bark, wood-based fire ash, and completely composted cow or chicken manure.

How to make the best soil for plants? ›

The best soil for potted plants will contain a blend of coconut coir fiber, vermiculite, perlite, organic fertilizer, sand, compost, and peat moss and is rich in basic nutrients required by the plants. It should be well aerated and should be able to retain moisture and nutrition well.

What is the difference between potting mix and ground mix? ›

Potting mix is meant to stand alone, as opposed to being mixed in with existing soils. It is a self-contained product designed to provide potted plants with everything they need to grow and thrive. Garden soil is meant to be spread around. Mix garden soil in with your native dirt to improve it.

How do you make super soil mix? ›

Ingredients:
  1. 14 cubic feet of high-quality potting soil.
  2. 1 cubic foot worm castings.
  3. 2.5 lbs. bone meal.
  4. 2.5 lbs. fish bone meal.
  5. 5 lbs. high phosphorus bat guano.
  6. 5 lbs. blood meal.
  7. 3 cups oyster shell.
  8. 3 cups kelp meal.

How do you mix perfect soil? ›

3. Perfect soil blend
  1. 50 percent topsoil.
  2. 30 percent compost.
  3. 20 percent other organic matter.

How do I make my own living soil? ›

To create living soil, simply mix one part sphagnum peat moss, one part perlite or pumice for aeration, and one part compost. If you don't want to use perlite or pumice, you can also use lica or hydroballs, which are expanded clay pellets that do the same thing.

How to turn bad soil into good soil? ›

Transform dead dirt into healthy soil using these tried-and-true methods.
  1. Stop using NPK fertilizers. ...
  2. Stop using herbicides. ...
  3. Leave the leaves. ...
  4. Be mindful of disturbing the soil. ...
  5. Use wood chips. ...
  6. Use compost. ...
  7. Stop spraying for mosquitos.

What is 3 ingredient garden soil? ›

Compost, vermiculite, and peat moss.

What is the best soil mix for a garden? ›

Gardening magazine's trial of the best soil mixture for raised beds found that a blend of 50% topsoil, 25% coarse sand and 25% compost was best. It determined that although the mix was quite heavy to put in the bed, it didn't settle much and was simple to dig.

What is best to put on soil before planting? ›

Mix in Compost

The best time to make your soil richer is to add compost at the beginning of each growing season. You can make your own compost from vegetable scraps and yard debris with a composter, or you can purchase bagged compost.

What is the best soil composition? ›

The ideal mixture for plant growth is called a loam and has roughly 40% sand, 40% silt and 20% clay. Another important element of soil is its structure, or how the particles are held together - how they clump together into crumbs or clods.

How do you make the perfect potting soil? ›

Ingredients can be measured with a standard 10-quart bucket.
  1. 30 quarts brown peat.
  2. 20 quarts sand or perlite.
  3. 20 quarts compost.
  4. 10 quarts soil.
  5. 3 cups base fertilizer (equal parts blood meal, colloidal phosphate, greensand)
  6. ½ cup lime.
Apr 15, 2024

What is the formula for potting mix? ›

For a potting mix:
  1. 1 part peat moss.
  2. 1 part perlite.
  3. 2 parts compost.

Is it cheaper to make your own potting mix? ›

Before we go any further, note that if you only need a few small containers' worth of potting mix, you may actually be better off buying a pre-made mix! Making your own is usually only economical on a large scale.

What is the best soil mix for potted plants? ›

Most gardeners make potting soil by combining perlite or vemiculite with peat or sphagnum moss. Two other organic materials that you could add to your potting mix are leaf mold and compost, which offer a wide spectrum of nutrients.

What is the main ingredient in potting mix? ›

Potting soil, also called potting mix, is a blend of materials like sphagnum moss, bark, perlite, vermiculite, compost or coir that's intended for growing plants in containers. Guess what it doesn't have? Soil. That's because soil can carry fungus and other plant pathogens that can infect your plants.

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