Most vegetables grow well in containers.
But for a bountiful harvest you need the right soil.
Topsoil from your garden is a bad choice. It’s too dense to use in containers. Not to mention the unwanted pathogens, bugs, and weed seeds.
So you need to find the best potting soil for vegetables.
Our top choice is Espoma Organic Potting Mix. It contains everything you need to grow flavorsome organic vegetables. It has a light and fluffy texture. Good structure and drainage. And contains nutrients to feed your plants as they start to grow.
Our top recommendations at a glance:
All links lead to Amazon, where you can find more information & customer reviews.
The Best Potting Soil For Vegetables: Reviews
Espoma Organic Potting Mix
Espoma has developed a strong reputation for making fertilizers and soils for organic gardening.
This potting soil mix is a great choice for growing vegetables in containers, both indoors and outdoors.
It contains 100% organic ingredients. Consisting mainly of sphagnum peat moss and perlite to provide a light and fluffy texture. With good structure, aeration, and drainage, encouraging healthy root development.
Also included in the mix is kelp meal, feather meal, alfalfa meal, and earthworm castings. These break down in the soil enriching it with nutrients for uptake by your plants.
And it also contains yucca extract, which helps nutrients and water to penetrate deeper into the root zone.
Vegetables usually grow best when the soil has a pH between 6 and 7. So a small amount of limestone is included to adjust the pH into the ideal range for nutrient uptake.
And to further encourage healthy growth and increased vegetable yields the potting soil includes Espoma’s special Myco-tone formula.
This contains 9 species of mycorrhizal fungi that form a symbiotic relationship with the plants. Helping the roots to increase their uptake of water, nutrients, and oxygen.
It also means that you can use around 30% less water than you would with different soil.
Which is useful to remember. Because some customers complain that it holds water a bit too easily. So take care when watering.
As well as vegetables, this is also one of the best potting soils for indoor plants. As well as being good for flowers and fruit trees.
It comes in a 40 lbs bag that contains 2 cubic feet of potting soil.
Fox Farm Happy Frog Organic Potting Soil Mix
This is another all-natural and organic potting soil that’s designed for growing plants in containers.
Sphagnum peat moss is the main ingredient giving the soil its structure. With perlite and aged forest products (bark and wood chippings) added for drainage and aeration.
Earthworm castings, bat guano, and ground oyster shell are included as natural fertilizers to release nutrients for your vegetable plants to feed on.
And to help them do that, it also contains humic acid for its proven ability to increase nutrient availability in the soil.
The natural fertilizer should give you enough nutrients to last 2-3 weeks. But after that, you should consider adding fertilizer yourself.
The pH is adjusted to the correct range by a small amount of dolomite lime.
To further improve the quality of the potting soil and help your plants to grow better, beneficial microbes have been added to the mix, including mycorrhizal fungi.
Customers report excellent results using this to grow all types of plants. Including many different varieties of vegetables.
You can buy it in an 8 lbs bag containing 12 dry quarts. With larger sizes also available.
Miracle-Gro Potting Mix
This premium potting mix by Miracle-Gro is great for container-grown vegetables.
The mix contains about 55-65% Canadian sphagnum peat moss, with horticultural grade perlite and composted softwood bark. Providing anchorage for the roots, as well as good air-flow and drainage.
A wetting agent is also used to help the soil absorb more water.
And it also contains fertilizer. A blend of ammonium nitrate, calcium phosphate, and potassium sulfate that provides nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium to the soil—the 3 primary nutrients that plants need in the biggest quantities. With enough to fertilize your vegetable plants for up to 6 months.
The NPK ratio is 21-7-14. Which is considerably more fertilizer than the small amounts present in the other options on our list.
However, some people prefer not to have fertilizer in their potting soil, preferring to add it themselves. The choice is yours.
It’s an all-purpose potting soil. So as well as vegetables, you can also use it for your flowers and other plants.
The bag contains 1 cubic foot of soil.
Organic Potting Mix by Perfect Plants
This organic potting soil is formulated for growing edible plants. Making it an excellent potting mix for herbs, vegetables, and fruits.
It’s designed for use in containers and pots, outdoors and indoors.
The ingredients include peat moss, perlite, coconut coir, earthworm castings, composted pine bark, and dolomite lime.
The coconut coir has the ability to hold moisture in the soil, making it easily available to plant roots. And because it doesn’t clump together, excess water still drains from the soil mix.
It also contains mycorrhizal fungi to enrich the soil and increase root nutrient and water uptake.
The soil comes in a heavy-duty, resealable 8 quarts bag.
Organic Harvest Potting Mix Soil for Vegetables, Herbs and Flowers
Made from natural and organic ingredients, this potting soil is formulated for growing vegetables, herbs, and flowers in containers.
It consists of peat moss, composted green waste, wood shavings, and perlite. And unlike the organic options above, it doesn’t contain any animal products or waste.
It’s a lightweight and porous soil that enables easy root penetration and strong anchoring. As well as good air circulation and quick drainage.
It comes in a 2 lbs bag containing 4 quarts of potting soil.
How To Choose The Best Vegetable Potting Soil
Choosing the right soil for your vegetable plants is one of the most important factors in achieving successful growth and good yields.
Because your vegetables are being grown in containers rather than garden soil, they have a limited volume of soil from which to extract nutrients and water. And due to the lack of space, any significant obstacles in the soil can be hard to grow around.
You can use many different materials together to create a good growing medium. But the mix has to be able to:
- Supply water, nutrients, and air to the roots
- Enable maximum root growth
- Provide a good enough structure for physical support of the vegetable plant
It’s very important that the soil is not too compacted or clumped together. Roots need to be able to grow in the space between soil particles. And water and air also need to pass through these spaces for the roots to have access to them.
This is essential because water not only provides hydration for your plants but also carries nutrients and makes them available for uptake. While air is essential for root growth, and for the activity of soil microorganisms that make nutrients available in the soil for your plants.
You should aim for a light and fluffy soil. Providing good aeration and encouraging healthy root growth. With good enough structure for root anchorage.
Buying A Potting Soil Mix For Container Vegetables
A potting mix is an excellent choice for growing vegetables in containers. They are formulated to be lightweight, with good aeration and drainage. While at the same time holding moisture and nutrients to make them available to your plants.
They usually consist of organic matter such as sphagnum peat moss, coco coir, compost, bark chippings, vermiculite, and perlite. With lime often added to adjust the pH to between 6-7. An ideal range for growing vegetables.
Some also come with fertilizer. Which can either be organic or synthetic.
To make organic potting mixes, which many people prefer for growing vegetables, chemical wetting agents that help water move through the soil are left out. And organic fertilizer is used instead of synthetic.
Things to look for in the best potting soil for vegetables:
- For growing in containers, make sure the soil is light and fluffy.
- Combinations of peat moss, coco coir, perlite, vermiculite, and bark, make for good soils
- Fertilizer is often added to get your plants started. If you’re growing organic vegetables look for natural materials such as bat guano, kelp meal, fish meal, earthworm castings, etc in the ingredients.
- Organic potting soil sometimes includes beneficial soil microbes to increase nutrient availability and root uptake.
Can I Use Garden Soil In Containers?
Garden soil is not a good option for growing in containers. Unfortunately, it becomes too compacted when placed in a pot. This prevents easy drainage of water, which is held in the spaces between soil particles, preventing oxygen and nutrient uptake and potentially drowning the roots. This is particularly a risk in small containers.
It can also contain bugs, fungal spores, pathogens, weed seeds, and pests that could hurt the growth of your vegetable plants.
Can You Mix Potting Soil With Garden Soil?
If you still want to use your garden soil for your potted plants, then you can mix it with potting soil. But try to keep it to 10% of the mix at most. To kill weed seeds and pathogens in the topsoil first, you can place it in the oven. Cover it completely with foil and heat to 180°F for 30 minutes. Don’t heat it higher than 200° because toxins can be released.
Soil Amendment
Sometimes even the best soil needs some amendments to get it just right.
If you find that your potting soil holds too much water then consider adding extra perlite or vermiculite.
Perlite is a volcanic glass that improves drainage and aeration. But it can also trap water in the crevasses of its surface, making it available to roots after the excess water has drained from the soil. Adding about ¼-⅓ of perlite to potting soil makes for easy drainage.
Vermiculite works similarly to perlite. But it holds more water, and for a longer time. And doesn’t provide quite as much aeration as perlite. It’s great for plants that like water-retentive soil. And can be useful for growing veggies due to their high water requirements. But for plants that prefer drier soil, it can lead to root rot.
Sand can also be used in DIY potting soil. But make sure it’s the coarse grain builder type and not play sand.
Conclusion
Many gardeners love growing their own food. With a bit of work, some seed, sun, wet soil, and a pot with drainage holes, it’s easy to make vegetable gardens thrive.
But, whether it’s tomatoes, lettuce, onions, carrots, kale, onions, or spinach you’re planting, choosing the right potting soil for your container garden is essential to maximize the growth and yield of your vegetable plants.
So, what is the best potting soil for vegetables?
Our top recommendation is Espoma Potting Mix. It’s ideal for organic gardening, and contains beneficial soil microbes that increase water and nutrient uptake by your plants. Leading to impressive growth and flavorsome vegetables.
I purchased the Espoma Organic All Natural Moisture Mix for my container garden do you think this will be a good soil choice for this type of gardening? Is there anything I should add to help the vegetables grow better?
Hi Kathi,
You should be able to grow your container vegetables in Espoma Moisture Mix. Try them and see how they go.
You can optimize the mix further by adding your own amendments if necessary. If it holds too much water you can add some perlite. If you think it’s not holding enough then you can try some sphagnum peat moss or coco coir.
And don’t forget to add some fertilizer.
Great thanks so much for your advice! Excited to start growing!