• From: floidb

RE: Garden Tip: Potting Soil

Greetings and thanks for the helpful article. Do you think this mixture would work well for planting the tomatoes in a raised container, once they are large enough to plant outside, or would it need anything more? 

The short answer is an unqualified “yes!” Meaning, yes, you need a better soil for your tomato plants outside in raised beds.

The #1 problem I’ve run into growing tomatoes is what is called blossom end rot. It comes from not enough calcium. But here is the tricky part…there is usually enough calcium in the soil, but the plant is having a hard time getting the calcium from the soil into the plant.

What does that have to do with your question? You have to have a great soil with a consistent and adequate watering schedule.

Great Soil: Peat moss is great for seedlings because it is sterile and won’t corrupt your seedlings. But tomato plants producing fruit need a whole lot of nutrients. And that my friend means compost, lot’s of good quality compost. I’ve bought mine from a local city sanitary district but we stopped because there was too much trash in it. I found a company locally that accepts green waste then turns it into compost, landscape mulch, and bark chips. It is clean and well composted.

To make my soil I use 8 parts compost, 1 part peat moss, 1 part perlite, 1 part native soil (ours is sandy). If you want to step it up a notch you can add 1 part vermiculite. Vermiculite is a lightweight, sterile, and expandable mineral that improves soil texture and moisture retention. Vermiculite is notably more expensive than perlite but is a nice additive to my basic mix.

Why do I use our native sandy soil? To reduce cost and give some drainage to the soil. If you have a rich black soil like parts of the mid-west then you can probably cut back on the compost. And remember, I grow everything in raised beds due to the very poor condition of our natural, in-ground, dirt. If I live where I grew up, great soil to begin with, then I would do everything in-ground and just amend the soil as needed.

Tomato plants need a pretty well draining soil but consistent watering. They don’t like constantly wet roots but they do need a consistent deep watering so they can take up the needed nutrients. I plant my tomato plants deep, usually about 10 – 12” of the stem in the dirt. If I can’t get them that deep then I go horizontal for 12” or so and about 6” deep.

Now, when I plant I dig my hole then place bone meal in the bottom of the hole along with that 2-2-2 organic fertilizer I mentioned. This year I am trying an additional step…gypsum on the surface around the plant, then mixed in just slightly, then well watered. The bone meal and gypsum are sources of calcium that plant needs. And yes, I will add fertilizer about 1x per month as needed during the growing season.

Waiting until you see how I trim them! Yeah, a bit radical.

NOTE: Be careful when buying compost! It may be “hot” meaning a whole lot of nitrogen in it. That will burn your plants up. < click here to read how I burned up my strawberry plants > Compost needs plenty of time to cook and then cool down. Talk to your supplier about it. I still leave mine sitting on the ground covered for months just to make sure.

Related Articles –

• Garden Tip: Potting Soil
• Garden: Starting Tomatoes Indoors
• Plan B, Plan C, and Strawberries…

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