Secret Four – Use a Proper Growing Medium

 

Most references say to mix some perlite or vermiculite into the soil as a moisture control. Others recommend using sphagnum moss for the same purpose. Suzie at Tagawa Gardens in Aurora, CO recommends mixing in a cactus potting soil mixture into the regular potting soil. The cactus mix contains small particles of volcanic rock which keeps the soil draining well without absorbing water.

 

Others recommend a mixture of coarse builder’s sand, peat or sphagnum moss and perlite – vermiculite. But almost all of the Mediterranean herbs listed in this book will do well with poor soil that is well drained. (The 50/50 cactus / soil mix drains well. But when it goes dry it does so right now. My thyme plant has gone from being ok to needing water in one hour when the potting soil is at the critical drying stage.)

 

In any case don’t use outside dirt or soil from your garden as that may be contaminated with diseases fatal to your herbs. Most potting soil is a mixture of moss, wood chips and leaf mulch. There is almost no dirt in potting soil. Start with a good sterile potting soil from a nursery to make your mixture.

 

Buying potting soil with the secret ingredient mycorhizzae, a microscopic fungus, to your soil mix will vastly improve its effectiveness. Mycorhizzae is a happy fungus that colonizes plant roots to improve the plant’s ability to uptake water and nutrients and thus maximizes a plant’s growth and yield.

 

Soil Mix Recipes
Basic Potting Soil Recipe #1

2 parts packaged potting soil

1 part coarse sand

1 part peat moss or leaf mold

Optional: slow release 14-14-14 fertilizer or bone meal
as per package directions

Basic Potting Soil Recipe #2
2 parts packaged potting soil
1 Part Perlite
1 Part peat or sphagnum moss Or
1 Part Coir – ground coconut fiber to improve soil drainage and hold water
Optional: slow release fertilizer or Age Old Brand Liquid Kelp
applied per directions