Okay, folks, let’s dive into my little gardening experiment – can you actually use regular garden soil for your houseplants? I’ve always wondered this, and, well, I finally put it to the test.
My Experiment Begins
First, I grabbed a bag of soil from my backyard. It’s decent soil, I think – dark, kind of crumbly, you know, the usual stuff you find in a garden. I also had a few houseplants that needed repotting anyway, some common ones like a snake plant and a pothos. They are pretty good plants and i thought they could handle *, perfect guinea pigs for my test!
The Repotting Process
I started by carefully removing the plants from their old pots. Then, I shook off as much of the old potting mix as I could without messing with the roots too much. And gave them new home.
Next, the moment of truth: I filled the new pots about a third of the way with the garden soil.I placed each plant in its new pot, and then filled in around the roots with more garden soil, making sure to pack it down gently.
The Waiting Game
After the repotting, I watered each plant thoroughly, until water started draining out the bottom. Then, I just…waited. This was the hard part! I kept a close eye on them, checking the soil moisture every day. I noticed the garden soil seemed to hold onto water a lot longer than regular potting mix,So i have to adjust how often I watered them.
- Week 1: Everybody looked okay! No wilting, no yellowing leaves. I was feeling pretty good about my experiment.
- Week 2: Still looking decent. The soil was definitely staying wet longer, so I watered less frequently.
- Week 3: Uh oh. The pothos started looking a little droopy. And the snake plant’s leaves felt a bit soft. This wasn’t a great sign.
- Week 4: The pothos was definitely unhappy. Some leaves were turning yellow. The snake plant was still holding on, but it just didn’t look as vibrant as before.
My Results
So, after a month of using straight garden soil, here’s what I found: It’s not the best idea, really. The garden soil just held onto too much water. It got kind of compacted, and I think the roots weren’t getting enough * i use a little,it may be fine.I think it’s why the pothos started to struggle.
My conclusion? While you can technically use garden soil, it’s not ideal for most houseplants. They really do better with a lighter, well-draining potting mix.I learned my lesson! I’ll be sticking to the store-bought stuff from now on, or maybe trying to mix my own with some garden soil, perlite, and other things to make it drain better. Live and learn, right?
