Real dirt smells so good I could eat it….

But I won’t. ;). Kinda. But for reals y’all- when you get that perfectly smelling soil in your hands you can hear the angels singing from above. This is what we had at our old homestead. But, since we recently moved  we are dealing with 42 acres of unworked soil. Fun.

Just kidding. Not. Fun. At. All.

So, it came time to plant our seedlings and Beau knew of a DIY potting soil that included peat moss. Mama here didn’t want to use peat moss. There’s been debates going on for years whether it’s a renewable resource or not. I choose not to use peat moss due to the fact that it compacts easily which reduces the drainage and aeration of the soil. Not cool.. And since I have a black thumb I don’t need or want to set myself up to fail. Ya hear me?! 

DIY POTTING SOIL

Beau and I have exact measurements that we use but for simplicity’s sake I will just convert what we use into parts. That way you can make a large or small amount.

Ingredients:

–  1 Part Vermiculite
–  1 Part Pre-Soaked Coconut Coir Brick  (bricks will expand depending on size)
–  2 Parts Compost (we use our own but you can buy it)
–  1 cup of Worm Castings per 5 gallons of DIY Potting Soil (we use our own, but you can buy it)

* Note- do not use coconut coir CHIP bricks (don’t ask how I know)
* Read the coconut coir brick because each brand expands to a different amount (each one of our bricks expanded to about 4ish quarts)
*** Parts don’t have to be exact.

Instructions:

It really is super duper easy and for that I am thankful!

1. Follow the directions on your coconut coir bricks to expand them. This is done by soaking them in water. We used 5 gallon buckets for this.

Throw bricks into the specified amount of water. You can always add another brick if there is too much water or add more water if there isn’t enough.

After 5 minute we added another brick.

2. Now that your coconut coir is expanded you will just mix all of the ingredients together. We used a 5 gallon bucket to “measure” parts and poured them into a wheelbarrow to mix them together.

3. next, pour vermiculite into the wheelbarrow with the finished coconut coir mix already in.

4. Add compost and worm castings and that’s it!

That’s it folks! Easy peasy. Now go get dirty and make your own DIY potting mix! And if you need the right gardening tools for this (like a wheelbarrow), check out my other article on the best gardening tools!