Fix your soil.

We all want happy plants. And you don’t need to buy all those various pre-made soils. All you need are a few ingredients, and your plants will probably do better. Plants want the water to run through and drain out for each watering. The hard truth: some plants just need to be watered more often, (and some less).

But first let’s fix the soil so it drains well. Get yourself some coconut coir, perlite, vermiculite, and finished compost, inoculated with mycorrhizae if you can. Rehydrate the coconut coir in a bin or wheelbarrow. Mix a lot of that with perlite, vermiculite, and a bit of compost. For desert plants you can add in a little sand and even less compost.

Six parts coconut coir, 1 part vermiculite, 1 part perlite, plus a handful of compost per gallon pot is a good mix for house plants. Works great in raised beds too. That’s a brick of the coir, an 8qt bag of perlite, an 8qt bag of vermiculite, and 4 trenta cups of the compost. For desert plants, half the amount of compost and sub sand (if you have it). Feed all plants with a good organic fertilizer.