Cheapest Potting Mix…. False Economy?

Recently with the help of a friend, I had a gardening epiphany.

She’s a keen gardener too, and although we catch up infrequently, it’s always a turn around each others gardens, a cuppa and a chat (whilst we steal cuttings).

She seems to be an effortless gardener and her results are always better than mine.  We got to chatting about how she achieves these results and turns out she uses only Searles Premium Potting Mixes.

All the gardening show experts say to use the premium potting mixes, but I didn’t think that I could justify the cost, and it couldn’t be that different could it?

Now don’t get me wrong, I understand the need for a quality soil for great results, and I always added lots of goodies to my cheapo potting mix to bolster it up.  I would add some manure, compost, blood and bone and water saving crystals, then mix it up in a big tub and pot out of that.  All topped of with a sprinkles of slow-release. But still my results didn’t add up.

I could never really justify spending the cash, but when I thought about it, by the time I added all the extras, it was probably working out to the same price, without all the hassle.  So I gave it a go.

A couple of months in, and here’s what I have found to be improved with top quality potting mixes such as Searles Premium Potting Mix;

Time saved potting.

Mixing up my little concoction takes time, I could have just bought the good stuff and been ahead of the game.

Less time watering. 

More expensive mixes retain water better, so the time and cost of watering is much reduced with higher quality potting mixes.

Less time and effort fertilising. 

Even though I still fertilise my pots and baskets, I found that I need to do so much less frequently.

Better results.

I have more and longer lasting blooms, faster growth with my vege’s and herbs..  I have to admit it, they are just better.

Plant loss

I always expect to lose some plants here and there, but I have had almost zero loss with my pre-spring seedlings and better germination rates on my seeds.  So much so, that I have had to thin out a lot of my seed plantings.

So I’m a convert to the Searles Premium Potting Mixes.  I love spending time in my garden and it goes without saying that I’m spending plenty of money on it too.  But spending my time and money wisely is more important when I’m busy, and on balance, the results add up.  Seems those gardening experts were right, and although I wish I had learned my lesson earlier, I know that I won’t be going back to the cheapo stuff again soon.

Toni Nightingale is the director at My Teddy, Mum to 4 kids, 10 chooks and 3 ducks and has a “hobby” block on the Sunshine Coast.