So What’s the Deal With Dry Potting Mix?

If you remember in one of our earlier posts, “Potting Mix—What Type Should I Use?” we talked about the difference between normal garden soil and potting mix.

As a refresher, potting mixes are different mainly because they don’t actually contain soil.

Weird, right?

Well, the thing about not having soil in your potting mix is that it’s going to have a harder time retaining moisture a lot of the time.

Unlike garden soils, potting mixes will need to be watered and fertilized more frequently.

Something Called the Heat-Island Effect

This is especially the case when your container garden is placed on hot pavement.

There is a phenomenon referred to as the heat-island effect, where hotter microclimates (when the climate of a localized area is different from its surrounding larger area, ie. a slight dip in temperature is possible in shaded areas compared to their surrounding area), are common when living in urban or metropolitan areas.

Shawna Coronado talks more in depth about this in her book, The Wellness Garden:

“…air temperatures are higher due to the excessive amount of heat-retaining concrete, asphalt, and buildings that have replaced vegetation. Generally speaking, vegetation helps cool down the air at night, where the urban heat island effect keeps temperatures warmer at night, increasing overall temperatures more consistently. With this added heat, gardeners are discovering that the soil in their planters and in ground sometimes require more water.”

The soil in containers is more prone to drying out in general so you’ll still need to be aware of this even if you’re not growing near pavement, in an urban area, or around other heat sources (such as dryer vents!).

Even Wind Can Dry Your Containers

Being exposed to more wind will also dry your container plants out.

You’ll often see soil gathering from the sides of the container into the middle when it gets really dry.

What You Can Do About It

There are ways around this though. One solution (which is great especially if you already live in a dry climate) is to plant drought-tolerant plants.

If your plants have less of a need for water to thrive, then you won’t need to worry about them drying out as often. This means you won’t use as much water (which is great for water conservation—not to mention, your wallet!) and you won’t need to spend as much of your time watering your plants.

Just remember drought-tolerant does not mean you won’t ever have to water your plants—just not as often as other plants.

Shawna Coronado provides some other solutions in The Wellness Garden, including:

• Using mulch to help retain more of the moisture in your soil
• Including natural moisture-retentive soil amendments (things that can be added to the soil to improve its quality) like worm castings
• Keeping plants in part-sun rather than full-sun
• Using drip-irrigation systems (yes, you can install these in your containers!) for automated, regular watering

Now You Try!

Keeping in mind these facts about container gardening can help you understand how to combat the challenges that come with it so your plants stay nice and healthy!

What has your experience been with container gardening? Are there tricks you have tried that worked really well for keeping your container soil nice and moist?

We would love to hear how your gardening experiences are going! Make sure to share your garden progress on our FB page here, or on Instagram with the tag, @garden_strong.