Can I Mix Native Soil with Triple Mix for a Vegetable Garden to Reduce the Cost?

Healthy Soil

• Vegetables grow best in loose, crumbly, dark, moist, and quick-draining soil, according to the University of Illinois Extension Service. You can amend soil with compost, manure, or other organic matter to achieve the right mix. Triple mix contains topsoil, manure, peat moss, loam, and mushroom compost, and provides drainage, nutrition, and moisture retention. You can use this mixture as an appropriate replacement for organic compost in the outdoor garden or in pots.

Site and Space

• Choose the right site and season for the vegetable garden. Use plots that get full sun exposure all day and quick year-round drainage, or your vegetables will fail. Begin your amendments in the fall before a spring planting, or in spring when the ground thaws. Add more amendments for any mid-summer or fall plantings.

Amending Soil

• Till the top 6 to 10 inches of natural soil to prepare it for amendment. The Oregon State University Extension Service recommends amending natural soil to achieve a mix of 2/3 natural soil and 1/3 organic amendment for a rich, healthy vegetable base. Lay 2 to 4 inches of triple mix on your site, and turn it into your natural tilled soil to produce this rich, crumbly and moist soil. Add 12-12-12 or 13-13-13 granular fertilizer, per manufacturer recommendations, to increase nutrition.

  If you're potting plants, combine triple mix with quick-draining potting soil or natural soil, rather than planting in triple mix alone. Use a combination of half triple mix and half natural soil, or half triple mix and half potting mix.

Repeating Amendments

• Soil quality breaks down over time, so it's a good idea to re-amend established beds at least annually. Amend soil at any new plantings, and turn triple mix into all established flower beds in spring. The mix provides gentle, long-standing nutrition to wake the plants from winter dormancy. Repot house and potted plants once a year, or when they outgrow their pots. Give potted plants a larger pot and new potting soil at every repotting.

Considerations

• Using native soil as potting soil comes with some drawbacks, as it may hold pests, weeds or mushroom culture. If you use native soil, watch your potted plants for signs of weed growth or pest infestations.