I’m a promix kinda girl 😅 I’ve had good experiences with it and haven’t tried anything else really. I do usually amend with purchased composted manure but this year a friend has offered access to his compost from his cows and I’m hoping that works out just as well.
Our Walmart literally has only Miracle grow soil and none of these. The 2nd Walmart farther away has only miracle grow soils and promix... no thank you. I will say our home depot has bags of peat and many soil options that makes it easy to mix our own inexpensively. I learned alot from this video and appreciate how informative you are. Thank you!
What do you think about organic vs conventional soils or mixes? I buy mostly organic which are a costly for my container gardening. But notice many UA-cam gardeners don’t seem to. What am I missing other than pesticides and $$ from my wallet?
Great question. Technically so the potting soils they are all organic unless if they have a slow release mixed into the soil. But for organic potting soil the objective is to support microbes. If you don’t you won’t have nutrient cycling.
We had lots of bags of "topsoil" that had the consistency of dry clay, still the strawberries loved it under the weed-block fabric that i'm still pulling out of the ground in tiny pieces after ten years. The good spongy mix is excellent for seedlings, and for taking the "clump" out of heavy yard soil at the top layer. We've sifted the interface between forest soil and the leaflitter, and it's an amazing collection of loose short fibers, perfect for planting in~
Neat stuff! I do potting mix for containers, potting soil hasn't worked well for me in the past. For landscape I just use what I have but amend with compost. Keeping it simple haha just putting organic matter on the top around everything.
I add sea soil to my vegetable garden in the spring, and mulched leaves in the fall. Is there a better way to amend my 4x4 raised vegetable garden beds? Thanks kindly from Edmonton.
That sounds very nice. The only addition you may want to add would be amendments based on the soil type your dealing with. So for example are you in a clay soil or in a sandy soil?
@@GardeningInCanada I wouldn’t describe the soil as having more clay or sand. These beds were just installed last spring. I put cardboard on the bottom with a base of leaves and twigs, then added a mixture of compost, peat, and sea soil.
Oh okay so you could add actual quality top soil then. This will help regulate your pH a bit more and actually increase the cation exchange capacity of the soil. AI for something in the loam realm and stay away from solid clay.
I have 2 questions about bagged manure - typically labelled sheep manure or cow manure, that I've never been able to find answers to. You have no idea how appreciative I will be if you can answer them!!! 1) Is there REALLY any difference between the two when it comes to nutrient content, pH, water retention/drainage, etc. ? 2) Is there any regulatory body in Canada that checks to see if it really is from a cow or from a sheep? I ask because where I live, I see literally tons of bags of sheep manure for sale and you'd be hard pressed to find a sheep! I can't imagine companies paying to ship sheep manure, which is VERY heavy, to parts of the country where we're surrounded by cattle and therefore, lots of cow manure is available with much less shipping required.
So there are very minute differences in the profile. I wouldn’t say one is 10x better then the other. They all provide the same result. The benefit to maybe rotating between species would be a diversified sugar source for microbes. And the reason you see sheep’s manure more readily available is because sheep are not typically free range. So collecting the poo is much easier. Same goes for cattle manure, it will almost always be dairy cattle manure. Again the reason being dairy cattle at typically not free range. Now as for the labelling it is regulated by both the USDA & also Agricultural & Agri Foods Canada. They can not legally have a nutrient label without the proper applications & permits. The one to watch out for is the OMRI certification. OMRI will only be stamped onto the bag if the livestock is organically raised. Manure from a cow raised on GMO corn is not classified as organic. (Despite it being by definition organic). What I have found in the past is companies will have labelling that says “organic composted manure” which is legal. However, if it doesn’t have OMRI stamped on it and you go to the farmers market selling “organic produce” you are liable for not actually selling organic produce.
Yea it definitely has its applications I’ll have to make a video on that soon. It’s more of a “in moderation” amendment. I wouldn’t be adding it every year or anything crazy.
Thank you for your overview and hi from another Canadian! I am wondering about the different (probably composted?) bagged manures that I see in Toronto grocery stores during the gardening season. I haven’t seen manure with lime, but rather from just different animals (e.g., sheep, horse, cow). They seem like cheap and convenient ways to fertilize my in-ground vegetable garden. Are there any big differences between these manures? Thank you!
After watching vids, reading articles etc, I put together my own little concoction for my raised beds - top soil, peat/coco (half and half), shredded leaves (1-2 years old), a bag of mush compost, a bag of raised garden soil, Worked in a bit of bone meal to the lower layer, added some vermiculite and worm castings. For my smaller containers, I chose Pro Mix and added a wee bit of worm castings to it. I'm curious as to your take on worm castings.
I usually use 40% garden soil,40℅ rice husk and 20% compost. I need to fertilize it weekly tho with nitrogen cause fresh rice husk robs nitrogen from the soil.
I need a Sunshine #4 sphagnum w/ mytochorrizae , soluble silicone,coir and no dolomite lime. Which I'm thinking is a #1 or #2 . However I can't find it in Walmart.USA So I pour gallons of warm water on it to make it inert and add amendments. It's wicking qualities are great for cannabis and enough silicon and root hormone is left in it for cell growth. All the MG products have way too much nitrogen. 19 %. Nutrient burn guaranteed 😂 I add Soil Acidifier, Dr Earth 3-4-3, worm castings,blood bone meal and cow manure compost. Then at flowering stage Lemon pH 2.5 orange and pineapple juices diluted to counter the 8.5 pH of Unsulfered molasses. the pH level still goes to 7.1 🤷
My question is why is it so hard to find soil for acid loving plants? For someone that is fairly new to gardening on a larger scale, and wants to grow blueberries and raspberries and even hydrangeas and roses, why can't I find acid loving soil in my stores? Peat moss is acidic, but you can't use only peat! I also use sheep manure, is it a good manure to use for these plants or is there another one that is more acidic? What do I do for my blueberries?
Soil pH is difficult because it’s dependant on the parent material. It’s nearly impossible to permanently change soil pH. It’s apart and influenced but a very big picture.
Here in Nova Scotia, we can get sheep, cow, and seafood compost at the stores. Are they supposed to be used for specific groups of plants? I did an experiment last year with my garlic and put different types of compost in each plot. I'm not sure if there was a big difference between the plots. Is animal manure better than seafood manure (or vice versa)?
I have looked into this in the past and to be honest there is nothing statistically different in manures. Some minimum analysis will vary but nothing sets one above another.
@@GardeningInCanada The chicken poop here is sold for quite a premium. It comes in a carton (around 1-2 litre) and they charge more for that than for a bag of other manure compost! Does chicken manure have magical powers?! :)
Well I used 60% black organic dirt, 35% sand from my lake bed, and the last 5% I use shrimp compost. That's for the garden and containers. Thats already on top of about 12inches of Hugelculture that's 3 years old. I tend to stay away from brands names.
Have you ever heard Gary Matsuoka’s theories on soil particularly regarding organic materials in soil? UA-cam Gary’s Best Gardening. I’d love to hear your analysis.
Hope you find this helpful! Let me know if I missed any bags and I’ll throw them up on the website gardeningincanada.net
:) lol great question there's sooo many to choose from
Read the ingredients
Hopefully they have ingredients lister
Soo freaking many chooses its wild.
@@GardeningInCanada ya I agree great helpful video
Glad you enjoyed it xoxo ❤️
We do have those in usa. Sorry we dragged u to walmart.
Looking forward to promix review
Hahaha that’s okay! I just needed to find the middle ground everyone in the group would be able to communicate on.
Yes ! The USA sells that exact brand of peatmoss at homedepot! Same size to! Lol
I know this is old, but definitely carry Premier peat down here.
I’m a promix kinda girl 😅 I’ve had good experiences with it and haven’t tried anything else really. I do usually amend with purchased composted manure but this year a friend has offered access to his compost from his cows and I’m hoping that works out just as well.
That’s awesome and that sounds really good well done
Our Walmart literally has only Miracle grow soil and none of these. The 2nd Walmart farther away has only miracle grow soils and promix... no thank you. I will say our home depot has bags of peat and many soil options that makes it easy to mix our own inexpensively. I learned alot from this video and appreciate how informative you are. Thank you!
Okay that’s good! We have home depots
too I didn’t even think to go there
What do you think about organic vs conventional soils or mixes? I buy mostly organic which are a costly for my container gardening. But notice many UA-cam gardeners don’t seem to. What am I missing other than pesticides and $$ from my wallet?
Great question. Technically so the potting soils they are all organic unless if they have a slow release mixed into the soil. But for organic potting soil the objective is to support microbes. If you don’t you won’t have nutrient cycling.
@@GardeningInCanada Thanks so much for your response! That will make a difference when selecting soils.
Yea absolutely
Can't wait for the promix vs walmart brand video !
Woohoo!!!!
Erie PA( Near Ontario). used to have Loblaws in the 70s-80's Golden Dawn too! Classic markets! Informative posts.Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it
I just bought Schultz’s potting soil and it was basically bark.
Soooo many good points in here! I learned so much! Thanks Ashley!
Maybe you could do a video on neem oil sometime!
I definitely need to you guys request that weekly.
Yes, we have Premier Peat Moss in the US.
Woohoo! Perfect
We had lots of bags of "topsoil" that had the consistency of dry clay, still the strawberries loved it under the weed-block fabric that i'm still pulling out of the ground in tiny pieces after ten years. The good spongy mix is excellent for seedlings, and for taking the "clump" out of heavy yard soil at the top layer. We've sifted the interface between forest soil and the leaflitter, and it's an amazing collection of loose short fibers, perfect for planting in~
That would be very nice
Thank you! You are always so helpful 🌱
Awe thanks so much
Neat stuff! I do potting mix for containers, potting soil hasn't worked well for me in the past. For landscape I just use what I have but amend with compost. Keeping it simple haha just putting organic matter on the top around everything.
That sounds perfect!
Very helpful.
thank you
Great video!
Glad you enjoyed!
Very helpful! Saved this video for future reference. I've learned tons from you though I've been gardening for many years. Thank you.
thats a huge compliment thank you
I add sea soil to my vegetable garden in the spring, and mulched leaves in the fall. Is there a better way to amend my 4x4 raised vegetable garden beds? Thanks kindly from Edmonton.
That sounds very nice. The only addition you may want to add would be amendments based on the soil type your dealing with. So for example are you in a clay soil or in a sandy soil?
@@GardeningInCanada I wouldn’t describe the soil as having more clay or sand. These beds were just installed last spring. I put cardboard on the bottom with a base of leaves and twigs, then added a mixture of compost, peat, and sea soil.
Oh okay so you could add actual quality top soil then. This will help regulate your pH a bit more and actually increase the cation exchange capacity of the soil. AI for something in the loam realm and stay away from solid clay.
I have 2 questions about bagged manure - typically labelled sheep manure or cow manure, that I've never been able to find answers to. You have no idea how appreciative I will be if you can answer them!!! 1) Is there REALLY any difference between the two when it comes to nutrient content, pH, water retention/drainage, etc. ? 2) Is there any regulatory body in Canada that checks to see if it really is from a cow or from a sheep? I ask because where I live, I see literally tons of bags of sheep manure for sale and you'd be hard pressed to find a sheep! I can't imagine companies paying to ship sheep manure, which is VERY heavy, to parts of the country where we're surrounded by cattle and therefore, lots of cow manure is available with much less shipping required.
So there are very minute differences in the profile. I wouldn’t say one is 10x better then the other. They all provide the same result. The benefit to maybe rotating between species would be a diversified sugar source for microbes.
And the reason you see sheep’s manure more readily available is because sheep are not typically free range. So collecting the poo is much easier. Same goes for cattle manure, it will almost always be dairy cattle manure. Again the reason being dairy cattle at typically not free range.
Now as for the labelling it is regulated by both the USDA & also Agricultural & Agri Foods Canada. They can not legally have a nutrient label without the proper applications & permits. The one to watch out for is the OMRI certification.
OMRI will only be stamped onto the bag if the livestock is organically raised. Manure from a cow raised on GMO corn is not classified as organic. (Despite it being by definition organic). What I have found in the past is companies will have labelling that says “organic composted manure” which is legal. However, if it doesn’t have OMRI stamped on it and you go to the farmers market selling “organic produce” you are liable for not actually selling organic produce.
33% Regular soil, 33% Cow Manure, 33% Peatmoss or Compost. Works really well here in Toronto
That’s sounds awesome
What do you think about adding Azomite to your garden mix? I guess that is the same as rock dust? (it comes up the same searches) Is it helpful?
Yea it definitely has its applications I’ll have to make a video on that soon. It’s more of a “in moderation” amendment. I wouldn’t be adding it every year or anything crazy.
Thank you for your overview and hi from another Canadian! I am wondering about the different (probably composted?) bagged manures that I see in Toronto grocery stores during the gardening season. I haven’t seen manure with lime, but rather from just different animals (e.g., sheep, horse, cow). They seem like cheap and convenient ways to fertilize my in-ground vegetable garden. Are there any big differences between these manures? Thank you!
Not much there are slight differences. If you can use a bit of each that’s the best because then you are introducing a wide variety of microbes.
@@GardeningInCanada thanks for the tip!😀
Get the same peat moss in Florida...
Cool! It’s a Canadian company 😊😊
💚💚
❤️❤️❤️
After watching vids, reading articles etc, I put together my own little concoction for my raised beds - top soil, peat/coco (half and half), shredded leaves (1-2 years old), a bag of mush compost, a bag of raised garden soil, Worked in a bit of bone meal to the lower layer, added some vermiculite and worm castings. For my smaller containers, I chose Pro Mix and added a wee bit of worm castings to it. I'm curious as to your take on worm castings.
That sounds very nice! and worm castings are great, they tend to have higher levels of bio available nutrients.
@@GardeningInCanada appreciate you taking time to respond Ashley. Very happy to hear worm castings are beneficial. Whew. :)
Absolutely anytime!
I usually use 40% garden soil,40℅ rice husk and 20% compost. I need to fertilize it weekly tho with nitrogen cause fresh rice husk robs nitrogen from the soil.
That sounds perfect
I need a Sunshine #4 sphagnum w/ mytochorrizae , soluble silicone,coir and no dolomite lime. Which I'm thinking is a #1 or #2 .
However I can't find it in Walmart.USA
So I pour gallons of warm water on it to make it inert and add amendments.
It's wicking qualities are great for cannabis and enough silicon and root hormone is left in it
for cell growth.
All the MG products have way too much nitrogen. 19 %. Nutrient burn guaranteed 😂
I add Soil Acidifier, Dr Earth 3-4-3, worm castings,blood bone meal and cow manure compost.
Then at flowering stage
Lemon pH 2.5 orange and pineapple juices diluted to counter the 8.5 pH of Unsulfered molasses.
the pH level still goes to 7.1 🤷
Hi, Ashley! Have you tried Vigoro soil from Home Depot? It seems like a lot of people purchase it.
I haven’t know but I have seen it. Were you looking at the potting soil?
@@GardeningInCanada I think it's gardening soil, in an orange bag. 🙂
I’ll look into it and see if I can find it here
Are Black earth and top soil the same? Are they nutritious?
they are identical and depends on the source
My question is why is it so hard to find soil for acid loving plants? For someone that is fairly new to gardening on a larger scale, and wants to grow blueberries and raspberries and even hydrangeas and roses, why can't I find acid loving soil in my stores? Peat moss is acidic, but you can't use only peat! I also use sheep manure, is it a good manure to use for these plants or is there another one that is more acidic? What do I do for my blueberries?
Soil pH is difficult because it’s dependant on the parent material. It’s nearly impossible to permanently change soil pH. It’s apart and influenced but a very big picture.
Here in Nova Scotia, we can get sheep, cow, and seafood compost at the stores. Are they supposed to be used for specific groups of plants? I did an experiment last year with my garlic and put different types of compost in each plot. I'm not sure if there was a big difference between the plots. Is animal manure better than seafood manure (or vice versa)?
I have looked into this in the past and to be honest there is nothing statistically different in manures. Some minimum analysis will vary but nothing sets one above another.
@@GardeningInCanada The chicken poop here is sold for quite a premium. It comes in a carton (around 1-2 litre) and they charge more for that than for a bag of other manure compost! Does chicken manure have magical powers?! :)
Haha no unfortunately not. It may have higher levels of insect Frass if they are free range and eating lots of bugs!
Well I used 60% black organic dirt, 35% sand from my lake bed, and the last 5% I use shrimp compost. That's for the garden and containers. Thats already on top of about 12inches of Hugelculture that's 3 years old. I tend to stay away from brands names.
thats awesome
Have you ever heard Gary Matsuoka’s theories on soil particularly regarding organic materials in soil? UA-cam Gary’s Best Gardening. I’d love to hear your analysis.
I keep hearing about the gentleman I’ll have to look into the channel
😎6️⃣6️⃣
😊😊
It's all about worms nowadays 🪱!
Love those little critters