Had a weird moment at a garden center in Nashville that totally changed my soil approach

I was picking up some compost at a local nursery in Nashville last month and an old guy working there saw me grabbing a generic bag of potting mix. He stopped me and said 'you're about to dump $15 into dirt that'll kill your roots in 6 weeks'. He walked me over to a pile of pine bark fines and told me to mix it 50/50 with my native clay. I tried it on a row of hydrangeas that usually struggle in my yard and they actually look greener after 4 weeks. Anyone else run into random strangers giving soil advice that actually worked better than the bagged stuff?

2 comments

2 Comments

charlie_stone7211d ago

Oh wow, I totally thought bagged soil was always better until now.

the_gray10d ago

Nah, "always better" is a stretch since quality varies way more with bagged stuff than building your own mix.