Is Miracle Gro Garden Soil OK to Use

The medium is not secondary to the technique when its the very heart of technique itself.

Yes SFG is a intensive method and intensive methods have been around for quite awhile and there other intensive methods out there and they have been around for a long time.

What all intensive methods out there share and have shared since time immemorial is the need to have plenty of well rounded nutrient rich compost in their soils/growing mediums.

Its not "optional" competent of the system ......its essential to make any intensive style of gardening work....whether it be SFG or any other intensive method such as the French Intensive Method, Ancient Aztec Chinampas, ect...

The potting soils out there are not designed for intensive gardening and they do not have all the nutrients you need in sufficient quantities to make an intensive method work well.

Its about not any one being "dogmatic" about anything its just a plain and simple fact.

Its not fun when the garden you spent a lot of time and money on fails because your overtaxing a soil/medium that is poorly designed to handle the heavy workload intensive methods place on it.

Saying the medium is secondary to the technique is saying like you can make any old liquid fertilizer to make hydroponics work. Its just not true.

You have to have to have a well balanced hydroponic solution to make hydroponics work and you have to have a rich well balanced soil to make intensive methods of gardening work.

Its just the way it is.

Standard bagged Garden Soils/Potting Soils are just fine for standard gardening methods they were designed to be use for and there is nothing wrong with them....they just are not that suitable for intensive gardening methods.

I want to thank everyone that responded to my query. By background is with Midwest gardening, and I did a lot of gardening while living there. Obviously what applied there is not applicable here in the Colorado mountains. Raised bed gardening is the only solution with the addition of some type of plastic dome. This is due to a combo of poor soil conditions and cool temps. Last night the temp went down to 30 degrees. I enjoy living here but miss gardening. Also, I have a patio home which has space limitations and I'm getting older which carries it's own limitations. That is why I chose to do the 4'x4' garden. And it was meant to be fun. I have decided to go with the Miracle Gro Garden Soil and amend the soil with compost next year. It may not be the perfect solution, but I'll enjoy the journey and hopefully have a few veggies to eat. Thank you again for your time and advice.

Turan wrote:Welll..... I always think just use compost. It is what I use with a lil of my native soil mixed in. However I was focused on the line "At this point I have no alternative."
If there is no alternative for this patio garden, then I say, go for it. Veggys will grow, add compost as it becomes possible but do not not growstuff because it is a bag of Miracle grow.

Don' t worry about it, it will grow stuff. You do what you have to do. If you need to add liquid Miracle grow at some time, so be it.. do it.

You will eat stuff, just fine. Enjoy it all.

Looking at the Garden Soil components, I see some of the things needed in MM It is lacking perlite or vermiculite. We just don't know the proportions. If I couldn't get anything else, I would use it and maybe add some perlite (which I think Walmart carries just in small bags) and more compost over time. I hope you get a bumper crop and that adding compost either as top dressing this year or improving things next year works well for you. I don't think it is ideal, but I'll bet you will get veggies.

Keep us informed on your progress, and include pictures.

Kay

I tend to want to do things 'just so' and according to the directions, so I empathize with the purists here, but I also remind myself that at some point you have to just START...and with gardening there are natural laws at work that limit how and when you can do what (barring an indoor grow system). I'm trying to go organic in my garden but I could drive myself insane worrying about every possible source of contamination. I'm doing my best and reminding myself that plants are naturally pretty good "filters"...and that my homegrown veggies (even if they were watered from a hose that wasn't food-safe, or if the manure in the soil is from an unknown-state-of-chemical-supplement-source) are still much healthier for me and my family than most of the highly processed food commercially available.

Miracle Grow soil will just become "soil" eventually. Even MM requires replenishment of nutrients.

ding47, welcome back to gardening and welcome to the forum. Definitely post pictures! Happy growing and happy eating!

Glad your on your way, use what's available, adapt and improve over time and that perfect square will come. "it's the journey, not the destination" that in the end counts.

Recent disclosures of atrocities committed by the people at Scotts Miracle Gro® lend me to look for an alternative every Scotts product. These massacres committed by executives who made the abominable decision to market toxic bird seed is beyond my comprehension. Scotts has also been sighted for selling a garden “weed preventer and plant food” as well as a product called Southern Max Fire Ant Killer, both with falsified pesticide registrations.

durangotan wrote:Recent disclosures of atrocities committed by the people at Scotts Miracle Gro® lend me to look for an alternative every Scotts product.

Go with Mel's mix and you won't go wrong!

It's funny /strange , but every year people come along bringing their old mother earth gardening ideas and ways with them ( I did )

They argue the toss about using things not mentioned in Mels recipe for his growth medium & decide to develop their own version of the idea instead. Some get really shirty and uppity, most see sense ( I did ) and buy the books and closely follow Mel's methods .

An even funnier thing is that Mel's idea and Mix works every single time .
I wonder why??? :scratch:

Hummm MC potting mix will grow your SFG but if you really want to get the best out of your 4 x 4 you'll have to order in the makings for Mel's mix,good luck & start yourself a compost pile,you'll need it to go with your Mel's mix next year
Okay guys fire it up,I used MC potting soil the first year :scratch:

Good morning all. I wanted to put my 2 cents in about garden center sales people. I was treated like I was crazy when I went to purchase my Mel Mix supplies at Lowe's. The man there told me all I needed to do was till the soil and add some cow manure to get fabulous results. Sigh. On a positive note, Lowe's had peat moss for the best price.

On the other hand, when I went to Home Depot, the young man there was extremely interested in what I was doing. He asked all sorts of questions. My initial question to him was, "Does this Home Depot carry cotton burrs?" He is very new to the Home Depot garden department and is soon taking a master gardening course. As Mr. Bartholomew says, it's easier for someone new to gardening to accept the SFG method.

I also wanted to say to Daniel9999, I am so impressed with how you took the time to provide so much information regarding this topic. You are a definite asset to this forum!

I'm on my third year of square ft gardening. Each year I just mix in more miracle-gro, peat moss, and the white lime stuff.....i forget the name. (i have 3 4x4 squares)

And for the last two years I've grew more than my family could eat....had to give away and throw away a lot as well.

the first two years I grew, corn, watermelon, cantaloupe, tomatoes and cucumbers. I also grew strawberries and peppers in pots using that potting mix from miracle grow.

I was actually trying to find out whether or not i could just buy one bag of manure this year instead of the more expensive bags of MG but i didn't want to mess up something that wasn't broken.

Am i missing something here? would i have better results that is more cost effective using something else?

rayjgold wrote:I'm on my third year of square ft gardening. Each year I just mix in more miracle-gro, peat moss, and the white lime stuff.....i forget the name. (i have 3 4x4 squares)

And for the last two years I've grew more than my family could eat....had to give away and throw away a lot as well.

the first two years I grew, corn, watermelon, cantaloupe, tomatoes and cucumbers. I also grew strawberries and peppers in pots using that potting mix from miracle grow.

I was actually trying to find out whether or not i could just buy one bag of manure this year instead of the more expensive bags of MG but i didn't want to mess up something that wasn't broken.

Am i missing something here? would i have better results that is more cost effective using something else?

rayjgold, I really couldn't say. Our site promotes and supports the All New Square Foot Gardening method that uses Mel's Mix as the growing medium. There aren't many supporters of Miracle Grow on this forum.

RoOsTeR wrote:

rayjgold, I really couldn't say. Our site promotes and supports the All New Square Foot Gardening method that uses Mel's Mix as the growing medium. There aren't many supporters of Miracle Grow on this forum.

Oh, Im sorry. I thought this was a general gardening site not linked to any vendor or specific growing medium.

You've showed me the door, and now Im walking through it. (ice age 4)

Thanks

rayjgold wrote:I'm on my third year of square ft gardening. Each year I just mix in more miracle-gro, peat moss, and the white lime stuff.....i forget the name. (i have 3 4x4 squares)

And for the last two years I've grew more than my family could eat....had to give away and throw away a lot as well.

the first two years I grew, corn, watermelon, cantaloupe, tomatoes and cucumbers. I also grew strawberries and peppers in pots using that potting mix from miracle grow.

I was actually trying to find out whether or not i could just buy one bag of manure this year instead of the more expensive bags of MG but i didn't want to mess up something that wasn't broken.

Am i missing something here? would i have better results that is more cost effective using something else?

The recommendation is to simply add homemade compost each time you harvest and free up a square. No need to add more Mel's mix or the MG garden soil. The fertilizers that are used in the MG are usually used up in about 10 weeks. the compost will actually add nurtition and general organic matter that will improve the tilth of the garden mix. The MG will not.

Oh don't get me wrong. You're more than welcome here. There just aren't many proponents of Miracle Grow here. There is lots of great information and plenty to learn on our forum.

RoOsTeR wrote:Oh don't get me wrong. You're more than welcome here. There just aren't many proponents of Miracle Grow here. There is lots of great information and plenty to learn on our forum.

+1

Rayjgold, Don't quit! You will find all kinds of useful tips, even enriched soil traditional gardeners chime in with good tips.

This is my first year growing a garden and I'm using the [New] Square Foot Gardening way. There's no specific vendor promoted here. This is a WAY of gardening, with a specific growing medium combination that each person makes on their own. That is, 1/3 volume of vermiculite (I had to use some perlite so my mix is close be not spot on), 1/3 volume fluffed peat moss, and 1/3 volume of blended compost. The compost needs to be composed of 5 different organic sources, each 1/5 of the volume. I used Kellogg mix as my compost to get my garden started this spring while I figured out how to compost in the city or could locate more ingredients. I'm even humble enough to admit I am using a weak solution of Miracle Grow fertilizer every 3 weeks or so because I think my mix is weak in nutrition. My mix is not "complete" yet. Consider your Miracle Grow as your starter compost while you search for 4 more ingredients, such as, farming manure (cow, poultry, rabbit, horse, etc.), worm castings, mushroom compost, kelp, dried grass clippings, or veggie and fruit trimmings. If you buy a used copy of the All New Square Foot Gardening book, you just may get hooked on it. Only 6 inches deep for the beds, except for long root veggies like carrots, parsnips, potatoes, etc.

Welcome aboard.