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Re: growth inhibitor?

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T wrote:
...
> Does this one look good?
>
> https://www.homedepot.com/p/NEARSOURCE-ORGANICS-Organic-In-Ground-Garden-Soil-1-5-cu-ft-Peat-Free-OMRI-Listed-693/321967297
>
> Says no peat.

  when speaking of soil qualities and composition using
the word organic means we're speaking of what percent of
the soil composition is made of carbon based molecules.
it is not the same as talking about organic gardening
(even if it is a related topic :) ).

  basic soil science and evaluating your garden soils
should be something you learn.  there are plenty of
youtube, etc. videos and explanations online.  go do
some reading/research.  it's a topic well worth knowing
for any gardener.

  so when i am speaking of topsoil i am speaking of soil
which is mostly mineral (that is it is not primarily
carbon based materials) that means it is a mix of sand,
silt and clay and you want a certain blend which is not
too much clay for really good garden soil but you also
do not want one that is almost all sand.  and then
when you have that mix done right you add some organic
materials to it which provide nutrients and additional
benefits - but overall garlic doesn't need a huge amount
of those organic amendments.  5% is probably plenty but
also there are the other nutrients (macros like NPK and
the micros like sulphur, boron, copper, manganese, etc.)

  so from this you can see that having 50+% peat is a
really high organic material content and likely a part
of the problem.  also if you understand what composting
is about you would know that having a lot of carbon in
your soil is going to mean your nutrient availability
is likely to be a challenge (carbon and nitrogen needs
to be balanced in a certain proportion to get composting
to happen and if that balance is off that means that you
may have too much of either and the results won't be as
good as they could be otherwise).

  mixing weeds in can cause issues too but that's a
whole different topic.  i'd not do that but put them
on the surface to act as a mulch to help hold in 
moisture for your area as it must bake there...  burying
weeds means you are composting in the soil and that can
include fermentations and other reactions which you may
not really want near a developing bulb.

  overall, mixing some organic materials in with your
garden soil is a good thing, but overdoing it may be an
issue and i do think in your case it is...

  so going back to evaluating the product you have
linked above how much of it is organic materials?  do
you think adding even more organic materials to a soil
that is already primarily organic materials is going
to improve it when that may be the problem?

  aside from how expensive it is it's just not topsoil.
you should be able to get topsoil for much less than
that - talk to a landscaping supplier.


  songbird

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Thread

growth inhibitor? T <T@invalid.invalid> - 2025-08-01 04:36 -0700
  Re: growth inhibitor? songbird <songbird@anthive.com> - 2025-08-02 08:05 -0400
    Re: growth inhibitor? Bob F <bobnospam@gmail.com> - 2025-08-02 08:20 -0700
      Re: growth inhibitor? T <T@invalid.invalid> - 2025-08-03 03:05 -0700
    Re: growth inhibitor? T <T@invalid.invalid> - 2025-08-03 03:03 -0700
      Re: growth inhibitor? songbird <songbird@anthive.com> - 2025-08-03 08:36 -0400
        Re: growth inhibitor? T <T@invalid.invalid> - 2025-08-03 20:30 -0700
          Re: growth inhibitor? songbird <songbird@anthive.com> - 2025-08-04 07:34 -0400
    Re: growth inhibitor? T <T@invalid.invalid> - 2025-08-03 03:07 -0700
      Re: growth inhibitor? songbird <songbird@anthive.com> - 2025-08-03 08:40 -0400

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