How to Amend the Soil in Vegetable Planter Boxes

Planting vegetables in planter boxes allows you to garden in nearly any location without concerns about tilling and correcting the existing soil. The convenience of container gardening means less work to produce fresh produce, but it isn’t as simple as filling the planter with garden loam or potting soil and expecting your vegetables to thrive. Garden loam and potting soil alone compact easily with repeated watering and do not provide the aeration healthy roots need to grow. Amending it to improve both aeration and drainage is an important part of container gardening.

Garden loam or potting soil
Peat moss
Perlite or vermiculite
Fertilizer, 10-10-10 or 14-14-14
Garden lime

Instructions

- 1
  Mix equal parts potting soil or garden loam, peat moss and perlite or vermiculite to make a lightweight potting mix suitable for container gardens. Keep in mind that garden loam may contain weed seeds or soil pathogens that may introduce disease, whereas potting soil does not.
- 2
  Add a slow-release fertilizer, such as 10-10-10 or 14-14-14, following the recommended application rate for the amount of soil you have prepared. Typically, 1 cup of fertilizer provides sufficient nutrients for 3 bushels of soil mix.
- 3
  Mix 5 to 10 tbsp. of garden lime into 3 bushels of soil mixture. Peat moss tends to lower the pH of the soil. Lime adjusts the pH level to a suitable level for gardening.
- 4
  Moisten the mixture using the sprayer attachment to your hose. The soil should be damp, but not soggy.
- 5
  Fill the planters to within 1 inch of the rim to allow room for watering.

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