I want to grow some tomato and bell pepper plants and have to do so in 5 gallon buckets. I am going to have about 20. I don't really want to go buy bags of potting mix from the big box stores. There is a place close to my house that will let me fill the 20 buckets with topsoil for $5, but I know that I should mix quot;Somethingquot; in with the topsoil. I'm not sure if I should put fertilizer in there or what. Can someone tell me what I need to mix in?I have no choice but to use the five gallon buckets, and they plants will get plenty of sun because they will be on the roof of a building. Thanks
the white stuff was probably perlite. It's some kind of processed lava stone. It helps keep the soil fast draining. go to a local garden store or lowes or home depot, and look at the potting mixes they have. shipping would be really expensive for potting soil. get something without a lot of peat moss which will tend to hold water.
vermiculite is good to mix with soil for bonsai.
