What Soil is Best? It Depends…
Does choosing between potting mix, potting soil, and just digging up some good garden soil for your gardening project feel like guesswork? Whether you’re tending houseplants, filling raised beds, or rebuilding tired garden soil, the material you start with determines how roots breathe, how water moves, and how nutrients cycle. And when you add the right biochar, in the right form, you transform each of these soil environments into a more resilient, biologically active system.
Why the Right Plant Growing Medium Matters
Containers, raised beds, and in‑ground soils all behave differently. Potting mix is perfect for containers because it’s light and airy. But if you bury it in a garden bed, it collapses and turns soggy. Garden soil is perfect for an in-ground planting because it’s heavier. Use that soil in a pot; it compacts into a brick. Different spaces need different soils.
Biochar‑enhanced amendments solve these problems by improving structure, aeration, water balance, and microbial life, but only when matched to the environment.
Biochar‑enhanced amendments solve these problems by improving structure, aeration, water balance, and microbial life, but only when matched to the environment.
Potting Mix vs Potting Soil vs Garden Soil — The Real Differences
Potting mixes don’t have any soil in them. That doesn’t mean they are synthetic; it just means there is no mineral dirt (such as clay or sand particles). There’s a good reason for no “soil” in a potting mix. Soil compacts and roots have a hard time getting any air. Plants need to breathe. Potting mixes are made of organic materials such as peat moss or coconut coir, bark fines, pumice, or compost, and are improved with the addition of a biochar product such as VITAL Blend. It adds structure, humates, and nutrient buffering without weighing the mix down.
Plants start out needing lots of air pockets that the potting mix gives, but soon need a potting soil. It’s heavier and has more nutrients available for plant growth. It’s still much lighter than your perennial and garden bed soils, and has compost, sometimes sand or bark, and the soil adds microorganisms for greater nutrient cycling.
When you’re going from a potting mix to a potting soil, you are going from a growing environment where there are no microorganisms to one with a few. Our GRATEFUL Blend is the perfect pick-me-up for when you are moving those greenhouse plants into a large pot and need to reboot the biology. It has microorganisms, biochar, and humates to feed soil biology and provide long-term housing.
Garden soil is the living foundation of in-ground growing. It varies widely in texture, pH, organic matter, and microbial activity. It’s much denser than potting soil, even if it’s sandy. For your perennial beds, vegetable gardens, orchards, or native plantings, garden soil is necessary. For resilience, good fruiting, and blooms, you need minerals.
It isn’t called “mineral soil” for nothing. Garden soil is loaded with minerals and the microorganisms that can break them down into forms your plants need. Adding a charged biochar product, such as NAKED Char, is excellent for long-term carbon storage, soil structure, and water-holding improvements.
Plants start out needing lots of air pockets that the potting mix gives, but soon need a potting soil. It’s heavier and has more nutrients available for plant growth. It’s still much lighter than your perennial and garden bed soils, and has compost, sometimes sand or bark, and the soil adds microorganisms for greater nutrient cycling.
When you’re going from a potting mix to a potting soil, you are going from a growing environment where there are no microorganisms to one with a few. Our GRATEFUL Blend is the perfect pick-me-up for when you are moving those greenhouse plants into a large pot and need to reboot the biology. It has microorganisms, biochar, and humates to feed soil biology and provide long-term housing.
Garden soil is the living foundation of in-ground growing. It varies widely in texture, pH, organic matter, and microbial activity. It’s much denser than potting soil, even if it’s sandy. For your perennial beds, vegetable gardens, orchards, or native plantings, garden soil is necessary. For resilience, good fruiting, and blooms, you need minerals.
It isn’t called “mineral soil” for nothing. Garden soil is loaded with minerals and the microorganisms that can break them down into forms your plants need. Adding a charged biochar product, such as NAKED Char, is excellent for long-term carbon storage, soil structure, and water-holding improvements.
Common Questions Growers Ask
“Can I use garden soil in pots?”
We don’t recommend it. The garden soil is heavy and compacts down. In the garden where there is lots of room (even in a small garden), there aren’t really sides or a bottom. Expansion happens even if we can’t see it. But in a pot? There are boundaries, and the soil gets to the edges and starts compacting. Adding GRATEFUL Blend to a potting mix or potting soil adds structure, microbial allies for your plants, and nutrients.
“Why does my potting soil (or potting mix) get dense over time?
The organic matter, such as bark fines, compost, coconut coir, or peat moss, eventually breaks down into soil. Even in a soilless plant mix, the organic materials eventually decompose (because microbes are decomposing all over the place, we’d die without them). Adding VITAL Blend biochar soil amendment increases the life span of your potting soil or mix by adding pore spaces.
“Do I need a special mix for seed starting?”
For best results, the answer is yes. Many growers start seeds in carefully mixed and sieved potting soil. Seeds started in a greenhouse for transplanting need a fine-textured soil, even moisture, and no competition from weed seeds. You don’t necessarily need a potting mix, but you do need potting soil with lots of air and water pockets. Adding VITAL Blend biochar to a potting soil increases those pore spaces and makes it easier for plants to develop strong root systems.
“How do I revive old potting soil?”
All the action in a pot or raised bed is in the top 6-8 inches. Plant roots will go much deeper, but only if given the proper nutritional foundation. Blending in compost, humates, and other decomposed organic matter adds the nutrients necessary for strong plant growth. But to jumpstart plant growth, you need to increase the soil biology. Organic matter and humates add that biology. Including GRATEFUL Blend or VITAL Blend biochar blends adds needed soil structure, long-term biology habitat, and carbon.
How Does Biochar Work to Improve Plant Resilience?
Biochar works differently in each type of plant environment. Sometimes you want biology for faster nutrient cycling. Sometimes you want the biochar to buffer the pH or create air pockets. The right biochar for the right outcome makes the difference.
Biochar in a Potting Mix
In a container for a houseplant or patio plant, you need lots of pore space so the plant’s roots can breathe. The whole point of a potting mix is that it doesn’t compact down and lose those tiny air and water pockets. VITAL Blend is our biochar soil amendment that buffers nutrients and adds humates for plant resilience.
Many times, a potting mix, especially if you buy a houseplant from the nursery, will be sterile. There is no life in the soil, so the plant is dependent on you to supply nutrition. Blending GRATEFUL Blend biochar soil amendment into the top few inches of your pot adds nutrients and the biology that will continue creating more fertility. GRATEFUL Blend is a living soil, and it gets better every year for plants that will thrive.
Many times, a potting mix, especially if you buy a houseplant from the nursery, will be sterile. There is no life in the soil, so the plant is dependent on you to supply nutrition. Blending GRATEFUL Blend biochar soil amendment into the top few inches of your pot adds nutrients and the biology that will continue creating more fertility. GRATEFUL Blend is a living soil, and it gets better every year for plants that will thrive.
Biochar in Potting Soil
Any time you are growing a plant in a pot, you risk compaction. There are also only a finite number of nutrients available to that plant. As it grows, it uses up what comes in the pot, and nutrients have to be replaced. You can add those nutrients with a chemical fertilizer, but those are salt-based, and eventually, you will see a white salt layer build up on the soil surface.
Using natural soil amendments gives your plant the nutrients in the forms it can use. Incorporating VITAL Blend biochar soil amendment adds nutrients and improves the soil structure for biology and your plants to thrive.
Using natural soil amendments gives your plant the nutrients in the forms it can use. Incorporating VITAL Blend biochar soil amendment adds nutrients and improves the soil structure for biology and your plants to thrive.
Biochar in Garden Soil
Every garden and every lawn will have a different soil fertility. The ability of a soil to grow a bountiful harvest or a lush green lawn has to do with multiple factors. Among them are the soil type (sandy, loam, clay), the biology in the soil (fungi, bacteria, nematodes, protozoa), and the available nutrients.
Without a healthy microbial population, plants are unable to use many of the available nutrients in the soil. Nutrients in the soil bond with other nutrients in stable forms. Plants aren’t able to use these, but microbes can. Microbes and plants form reciprocal relationships, and as long as there is a strong beneficial microbial population, your plants will be able to get the nutrients they need.
That beneficial microbial population also outcompetes pathogens. And what plant wouldn’t like a little help with pest control?
If you’ve been using synthetic fertilizers on your garden or lawn, you may not have a very robust microbial population. Our GRATEFUL Blend is a living soil. Full of nutrients, carbon, and microbes to increase the fertility of your soil year after year. NAKED Char, our pure biochar product, is perfect for adding to your compost pile to charge it and then adding it to your garden soil. You will have long-term carbon and happy microbes.
Without a healthy microbial population, plants are unable to use many of the available nutrients in the soil. Nutrients in the soil bond with other nutrients in stable forms. Plants aren’t able to use these, but microbes can. Microbes and plants form reciprocal relationships, and as long as there is a strong beneficial microbial population, your plants will be able to get the nutrients they need.
That beneficial microbial population also outcompetes pathogens. And what plant wouldn’t like a little help with pest control?
If you’ve been using synthetic fertilizers on your garden or lawn, you may not have a very robust microbial population. Our GRATEFUL Blend is a living soil. Full of nutrients, carbon, and microbes to increase the fertility of your soil year after year. NAKED Char, our pure biochar product, is perfect for adding to your compost pile to charge it and then adding it to your garden soil. You will have long-term carbon and happy microbes.
Your Project Determines the Right BioChar Product and the Right Soil
Soil isn’t just dirt. It’s a living community made of minerals, organic matter, water, air, and countless tiny organisms. When all of these parts are in balance, plants grow stronger and healthier. These all interact to create structure, store nutrients, and support plant roots.
You need the right type of soil blend to make a project successful. Whether you’re repotting a houseplant in potting mix, adding potting soil to your raised bed, or creating a new perennial or vegetable garden bed, the right soil makes all the difference.
Compaction is your biggest concern in most situations. When you add biochar products, you increase air and water pockets and increase plant vigor. If you don’t have biology in your soil, pathogens will take up residence. Your plants will suffer and you’ll think you have a brown thumb.
VITAL Blend adds soil structure and nutrients. GRATEFUL Blend soil amendment is living because it also has the biology necessary to make those nutrients available to your plants. Which you choose depends on the health of your soil, the type of project, and how much you want others to think you have the greenest thumb around.
You need the right type of soil blend to make a project successful. Whether you’re repotting a houseplant in potting mix, adding potting soil to your raised bed, or creating a new perennial or vegetable garden bed, the right soil makes all the difference.
Compaction is your biggest concern in most situations. When you add biochar products, you increase air and water pockets and increase plant vigor. If you don’t have biology in your soil, pathogens will take up residence. Your plants will suffer and you’ll think you have a brown thumb.
VITAL Blend adds soil structure and nutrients. GRATEFUL Blend soil amendment is living because it also has the biology necessary to make those nutrients available to your plants. Which you choose depends on the health of your soil, the type of project, and how much you want others to think you have the greenest thumb around.
Have the greenest thumb in your neighborhood. It doesn’t take years of experience (but observation is a handy tool). It takes learning how to create healthy microbial rich soil so your plants are resilient in all weather conditions.
