When starting out in gardening, it can be difficult to know where to focus your attention. There are many factors to consider when optimising plant growth, which can be overwhelming for first-timers. A great place to start is tinkering with soil quality. 

Soil is responsible for helping your plants get all the nutrients they need. It is also crucial for maintaining water levels and anchoring plants in the soil. In short, if the soil is wrong for your plants, they will start at a significant deficit compared to planting in higher-quality soil.

Starting out with a ready-made base like veggie mix soil can be a great idea for beginners. You can also help the soil by adding extra nutrition, like mushroom compost, to give your plants an extra kick of goodness.   

If you would like to consider creating your own custom mix for your garden, it’s essential to have a solid understanding of the basics of soil quality. Here, we will discuss what makes good soil and give you some excellent tips for starting out on your journey to garden success. 

Soil Composition

Healthy soil is made of various materials and is a composite of various minerals and organic matter. Water and air are also vital, as even the best soil will do nothing for your plants without a regular watering schedule and aeration to avoid compaction. 

Beginner gardeners can often miss the aeration step, as it often doesn’t immediately seem like compaction would have a huge effect on the soil. However, this step is vital, as it helps to introduce space between the soil molecules, giving both water and roots room to interact and grow, allowing the plant to take up water from the soil while also avoiding waterlogging the plant. 

Healthy soil will have about 40-60% of its total volume taken up by space. When buying premade soil, like a veggie mix, it is very important to mix the soil to introduce this pore space. 

Mushroom Compost Benefits

Mushroom compost makes a fantastic addition to almost any garden because it is high in organic matter. As this organic matter slowly decomposes within the soil, it releases essential minerals, vitamins and nutrients that provide the plant with the crucial building blocks it needs for growth. 

Having a slow-release compost such as mushroom compost can make a huge difference in how often you need to apply fertilisers for extra help in the garden. Most commercial fertilisers contain a massive volume of these essential nutrients for plant growth, but they quickly wash away after the first rain. 

Mushroom compost remains in the soil for a long time, allowing it to slowly release minerals and vitamins over time. This helps to provide the plant with all the nutrition it needs for much longer. 

In addition, mushroom compost also helps to vary the size of the particles in the soil. This helps to prevent the soil from settling into a compacted state over time and promotes a good state of soil structure, allowing all the many benefits of aeration to continue for longer. 

Mushroom compost can also be beneficial for retaining water. This helps to increase the amount of water kept within the soil (as opposed to running off after filtering through the soil). It is also eco-friendly, reducing the overall water needed for the garden. 

Veggie Soil Mix Advantages

For beginner gardeners, starting with ready-made soil, such as a veggie garden mix, is often the easiest option. This soil combines mushroom compost with sandy loam and organic garden soil. 

The mix of sandy loam and garden soil helps produce the appropriate ratio of small fine particles to larger coarse particles. This promotes soil that can hold air and water, which is essential for growing seedlings (as roots need room to grow!). 

Veggie mix soil is also carefully balanced to have the ideal pH for growing vegetables. It also contains a number of beneficial microbes that suppress potential critters or pathogens that want to feast on your crop before you can. 

The addition of mushroom compost provides all the nutrition for the plant and the advantages outlined above. Together, they create an incredibly easy-to-use starter soil that is versatile and can manage almost any veggie. 

It is important to check the plants you plan to plant in your garden, as certain veggies and tubers may have different growing requirements. These requirements can usually be found on a garden centre’s information tag or pot. 

Combining Amendments

Although veggie mix soil already includes mushroom compost, for an extra boost, you can mix one part mushroom compost with three parts soil. You should reapply this extra boost seasonally to maintain the soil’s health over time. 

It can also be a great idea to use soil tests such as pH indicators and nutrient levels or measure moisture levels in the soil and available light at different times of day. Many garden centres also sell a soil testing kit, which contains all the necessary components to measure the health of your soil over time.

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