Creating The Perfect Soil For Your Cedar Planter Box

A cedar planter box is the perfect way to add sophistication and beauty to your backyard. A well-maintained planter box can transform your yard into a peaceful meadow or an exotic jungle.

Unfortunately, it's not up to the planter to set the mood in your garden; it's the healthy, beautiful flowers in the planter. Sickly or malnourished flowers will change your backyard from an elegant escape to a distasteful dump. The secret to growing a lush and healthy planter box full of flowers is regular care and love, and starting with the perfect soil.

If you want your plants to grow as healthy and quickly as possible, don't just use whatever soil comes in the bag. To create the best soil for your planter, you should mix together different types of soil and other ingredients to achieve maximum results.

First, it's important to start by understanding the meanings of different potting soil terminology. According to Encarta, here is a quick reference glossary for some common terms used in potting soil recipes:

SHARP SAND: "Sharp" sand has angular grains, instead of round grains like beach sand would. This sand helps to improve the drainage in your soil.

LOAM: Loam is a very popular potting soil. This mixture is composed of clay, sand, gravel, silt, and other organic matter.

HUMUS: Humus is decayed animal or plant matter. This substance is often formed from compost, and works as a natural fertilizer for your plants.

PEAT MOSS: Peat moss is a dark brown organic material that is made from the partial decay of vegetation in the wetland environments. The benefit of peat moss is its high carbon content.

There are many different potting soil "recipes" that experts have put together, all of which benefit certain types of plants. By creating the best soil combination possible, you ensure that your flowers will grow in your cedar planter box as quickly and as healthily as possible.

There is a simple general potting soil recipe that you can use for most plants. This combination is especially beneficial for garden geraniums, fuchsias, chrysanthemums, Sansevierias, Pandanus, and palms. This soil is composed of one part sharp sand, two parts loam, one part leaf mold or humus, and half a part dried cow manure.

If you want to grow flowers such as begonias, most ferns or primulas in your cedar planter, these plants require more humus than the basic soil mixture will give them. So, you can slightly modify the general potting soil recipe to benefit these plants as much as possible. Mix a soil that is two parts sharp sand, two parts loam, two parts leaf mold or humus, and a half a part dried cow manure.

There is also a different soil mixture for potting many hardwood plants such as azaleas, Ericas, Daphne, and certain ferns. This soil is composed of two parts sharp sand, two parts loam, two parts peat moss, one part leaf mold or humus, and one third part dried cow manure.

Of course, there are many other soil recipes available online, and you can find the ideal soil for whatever plants you want to grow in your cedar planter box.