How To Mix Soil For A Black Eyed Susan

Video Transcript

"Okay, so now we need to make some soil mix to plant our rudbeckia in. I'm going to take some of this existing soil, which is sort of a sandy mix, along with some of my rich hummus here, which is a nice dark mix. We need to add this to help retain moisture and to put some organic matter in there. It's one part of hummus, one part of your existing soil, and one part peat moss. This is the nice peat moss that is a little bit more lightweight and will help those roots be able to root in better because it's not so heavy and dense. I'm also going to add a little bit of lime. Lime helps take some of the acidicness out of the soil and help sweeten the soil a bit. I'm also going to add some garden gypsum. I like gypsum in all my mixes because it helps loosen up any kind of clay soil that might be in the bottom of my hole, and some phosphorus, about a tablespoon. A little bit of extra is not going to hurt. Finally, I'm going to add some of this terra sorb gel, which helps the soil hold moisture better. It's a crystal powder, and once it gets wet it's going to expand and hold the moisture. You only need a tiny little bit for a hole this size. Once that gets in there, I'm going to combine it all together and really mix it well. I'm going to get out any lumps that might be in there and I'm going to stir it up as best as I can so it's all evenly combined, hence it being mixed."