TIL I was overcomplicating my raised bed soil mix

For two years I kept buying bags of fancy potting soil and mixing in perlite and vermiculite for my backyard raised beds. Then my neighbor who grows amazing tomatoes just said "use straight topsoil and compost from the landscape supply, 50/50." I tried it this spring with one bed and the veggies are twice as big as my other bed with the store bought mix. Anyone else find out they were wasting money on unnecessary soil amendments?

3 comments

3 Comments

hall.nina22d ago

Is this just how everything works now? Buy the fancy stuff first, find out the simple way later. I did the same thing with cleaning products. Bought all these special sprays for different surfaces. Then my grandma showed me vinegar and water works on almost everything. Saved a ton of money and my windows are actually cleaner now. Feels like companies rely on us not asking the old lady next door.

lucashart22d ago

And that's the thing, @hall.nina, it's not just about cleaning or whatever... companies have figured out that if they make the "simple" way feel embarrassing or outdated, we'll keep buying the fancy stuff. Like, remember when everyone started buying those expensive mattress toppers instead of just flipping their mattress every few months? Same deal. My dad still uses basic dish soap and a rag for everything, and his car looks better than half the people with detailing kits. We've been trained to think "cheap" equals "bad" even when the cheap stuff works perfectly fine.

elizabethhayes19d agoProlific Poster

My dad is the exact same way with tools. He still uses a rusty old screwdriver he found in the garage twenty years ago and refuses to buy a new one because "it still turns screws." Meanwhile my brother in law just bought a $150 electric screwdriver that takes three tries to get a battery charge right. Reminds me of when everyone started buying those special grill cleaning stones instead of just using a ball of tin foil like my grandpa did. Funny how the stuff that costs nothing somehow outlasts the stuff we pay a fortune for.