I love container gardening. It’s fast, easy to maintain, and low-commitment. But for many years, the only potting mixes available were chemical-laden soils. In particular for vegetables, I don’t like to grow plants in soil I feel that I need to wash off of my hands as fast as possible. Fortunately now there are organic, easy to find alternatives on the market, including the Fafard Organic Container Mix and Miracle Gro Organic Choice Potting Mix.
The Fafard Organic Container Mix feels like earth between your fingers. Many potting soils feel crumbly or even sandy in your hands. Fafard started out selling peat moss and now produces several types of soils, including an excellent potting mix. Fafard sells to farmers and it includes a product line composed of totally organic materials, meaning no pesticides or chemicals. The Fafard mix is made of Canadian sphagnum peat moss, perlite and compost. For inexperienced and under-informed gardeners like me, let me define what those terms mean. Sphagnum is a genus of peat moss that can hold particularly large quantities of water and is frequently used as a soil additive because of its capacity to hold water and release different minerals into the soil. Perlite is another water-containing natural material and compost is the decomposed remains of organic materials. So everything in the Fafard Organic Container Mix is of natural origin.
The Fafard mix does include a starter fertilizer, but because it is water soluble is not intended to be a long-term fertilizing source. This means you will have to use fertilizers on a regular basis to keep your plants healthy and happy. The lack of a fertilizer increases the number of steps you will have to make with your plant care, but fortunately many good fertilizers are on the market that will easily serve this purpose. Not every store sells Fafard soils (i.e. the nearby Lowe’s does not have the container mix), but many nurseries carry the line and a 30 dry quart bag costs approximately $6.99.
Miracle Gro is by far the most recognized name in potting soil and plant care. It now carries an organic line and the Miracle Gro Organic Choice Potting Mix is an excellent choice for gardeners who just want to plant and be done with it. Miracle Gro’s claim “twice the growth of ordinary potting soil” is true to a large extent. Miracle Gro’s potting mix includes both quick- and slow-release fertilizers. This benefits plants as they immediately get a good start, and then continue to grow. You can make the case that if the gardener properly fertilizes plants you will have the same result, but Miracle Gro eliminates this element of human error. The ingredient list of Miracle Gro Organic Choice Potting Mix is similar to Fafard and has sphagnum peat moss, composted bark fines, and natural fertilizers. The organic nature of the potting soil will broaden the appeal of Miracle Gro to individuals concerned about pesticides and chemicals, but who still like the ease of using Miracle Gro products. A 14 pound bag costs approximately $5.99 and is widely available.
The Fafard Organic Container Mix and Miracle Gro Organic Choice Potting Mix target the same audience but are really suited to different gardeners. The Miracle Gro potting mix serves the occasional weekend gardener the best because if he or she forgets it is time to fertilize it is not that big of a deal as flowers, plants and vegetables still get many nutrients from the potting mix. The Fafard mix is ideal for the passionate gardener who likes to try things, readjust plants, and is scrupulous about watering and fertilizing duties. It also appears more authentic to hard-core gardeners who are passionate about organics and their plants. Both mixes will grow beautiful plants, but the Fafard mix will take more effort while the Miracle Gro mix – even though it is organic – carries the “chemical” stigma. I like the Fafard mix for my vegetable boxes that I tend to more often anyway, and use the Miracle Gro for flowers that I can just plant and water.
