"Higgs Boson" wrote in message
...
I had always snobbishly regarded potting soil as something marketed to
apartment dwellers or people who didn't understand gardening.

Now have to re-evaluate.

I made a rectangular planter in wood shop years ago. About twice the size
of the redwood planters sold in stores. Today gardener helped me get it
back on wheels (from which a (*&^%#%&* person had removed it -- don't
ask!!). Very heavy.

He said it was because I was using ordinary garden soil; said potting soil
would be much lighter. Said it would work just as well.

QUESTIONS: a. Is potting soil just as good as garden soil (assuming
garden soil
is OK)?

b. Is it worth replacing x% of garden soil with potting?

c. Or remove and replace all?

d. Leave it alone.

I am NOT looking for work!!! Planter is back on wheels and can be moved,
with some difficulty. For now, just asking if anyone agrees with
gardener's opinion potting soil vs garden.

I almost always use potting soil in pots. There are several reason for
this. Firstly, when I've used either my home made compost or soil, I get
growth of other things in addition to what I really want to grow. For
instance, at the moment I am growing some ginger in a pot in my sun room and
since I found the ginger sprouting healthily IN my compost heap, I just
potted it up using the compost in which it was growing and put the pot in
our sun room (although I think I added some potting mix, I know that it has
a lot of compost and it's a big pot). In that same pot, I now also have 3
gorgeous looking tomato plants as well (it's mid winter here so they are
quite confused). I also have some dill and a couple of other things that
I'd need to go and look at to refresh my mind about what they are - all have
come up from seeds in the compost. I cant' make a hot compost to save
myself but then I dont' mind these sorts of volunteer plants.

Another reason why I use potting mix is the weight factor that you have
mentioned. As a 60+ aged female with no paid help in a large garden I have
to be able to move quite big pots around by myself. I have a stair climber
type trolley but that is the only lifting device I have other than my own
muscles with have held up so far (touch wood). I'm reasonably strong for a
woman of my age, but I'd rather not tempt fate too often because as one
ages, an injury is harder to recover from.