20 Best Cheap Soil For Weed (2023 Updated)

This was my second year with an annual garden. I’ve been learning about Permaculture for a few years. This was also my second year trying to use soil blocks to start seeds indoors. Last year I used a soil mix from Johnny’s which worked well.

I’ve also experimented making some starter soil myself last year, but as a beginner it became overwhelming. When I heard this was a product of Vermont Compost Company, that gave me a great sense of ease.

I’ve heard of them through a few sources and I appreciate their practices. I always wonder what companies through into compost and how well they process it. When I opened my first bag, I was a bit confused and disappointed.

It was quite a different texture than I was used to. I had come up with an exact measurement of water to add to my previous mix and couldn’t see how this mix would hold together with the same. I watched a few YouTube videos and then got more generous with the water.

I started getting awesome 2″ blocks with ease. I now find this mix very easy to use and I no longer measure the water I add. It seems very forgiving. So far I’ve only used this mix for 2″ blocks (not the mini’s), but the plants all did very well and are now out in the garden.

Since this was a hectic year and we’re fairly new to all of this, we also bought some starts from local farms as backups — these of course came in trays. Now that we’ve transplanted them all, I have to say that I liked the starts in blocks MUCH better.

Some of the trays were root bound and needed to be freed. The soil we got in many of the trays just seemed like an ultralight sponge. The blocks I made with this mix had healthy plants and no root bound issues — they transplanted much quicker.

The fine grain and bits of coconut coir in this potting mix makes it ideal for soil blocking. A YouTube video recommended mixing this Vermont Compost product with Jiffy seed starter, but I have achieved great soil block results with just this product and enough water to make the mix clump well.

The blocks hold together extremely well. You do have to find and remove larger particles like small sticks before making the blocks, but these are mercifully few.

So upset, keep reading how this stuff is the gold standard for soil block use, straight out of the bag. I got mine fresh delivered and prepped an entire flat of 1/2″ blocks (that’s a lot of blocking) and set them on the heatmat to germ when I went to bed.

Within the time of 11pm to 7am it was covered in fine, white, cobwebby MOLD! I’m horrified, I’ve never had this happen with a seed starting mix. So disappointed – hundreds of seeds to waste and putting me a week behind in my starts for the year.

How is one supposed to get heat-lovers like peppers and eggplants going if this stuff molds faster than you can blink?? What a waste of three bags :(.

Well I just received my 40lb bag of soil, only it was 28lbs, old, dried out and basically just bad. I wouldn’t bother buying from this seller unless they assure you it hasn’t been sitting in a warehouse somewhere for months drying up.

Clearly there was 12lbs of moisture and nutrients that were missing because of whatever happened to the bag. That doesn’t happen over night or in transit.

Wow im so disappointed i have used this for years and now 2021 it is nothing more then mulch. What happened? This used to be the best i always recommended now its a waste of money. Its more expensive but way less quality wish i would have known before i bought my yearly supply.

The best potting soil I have ever purchased. I love putting my hands in this dark, rich soil. Some potting soils contain large wood chips and even rocks. You’re not going to find those types of fillers in this product.

Highly recommended. I have reordered multiple bags. It’s worth the price to get a fine quality product.

I have come to rely on these minute soil bricks. One brick is the perfect amount to mix with my worm compost to get the right amount of drainage to organic materials. All my veggies and flowers love it and I can even use it as a base for my worms along with shredded newspaper.

Perfect solution for living in a small space but wanting to care for plants in a big way. Highly recommended.

Good quality, hydrates fairly quickly leaving a few dry chunks to be broken down by hand and mixed in. It combined well with vermiculite and sand to make my seed-starting mix. Good price compared to other vendors.

Coir is a slightly better environmental choice than peat moss and is also pH neutral. It’s more expensive than peat moss, but it’s easy to work with, compact to store, and very lightweight before hydrating.

The minute soil compressed coconut pucks worked beautifully! They are just as good, if not better than regular dirt. They expanded way more than I expected and one soil compress was enough to grow a decent amount of a spicy salad mix of microgreens.

They did not have an unpleasant odor, just smelled like wet dirt. The selection of coconut based products was more than adequate to fit my needs. Overall, I am very pleased with the price range, performance of the product and happy with my purchase! Thanks True-Leaf Market! -Karen.

I needed some good soil for outdoors to till in with the dirt in our yard to have some nutrients in the dirt for a small garden. I never bought this kind before, but I’m glad I did. Combined with the added organic nutrients, It’s got enough of coco and perlite mixed in for a lightweight and spongy texture.

It holds water well for up to 5-7 days on long sunny days before you need to water your plants again. Overall Good soil at a Good $ price compared to others. Roots Organics has a good reputation for that which is really great.

I’m a customer for life. Im glad I found it online which is awesome, because it’s hard to find the soil you are looking for in my town other than Walmart or Lowes, Home Depot.

The 2 complaints I read were stupid fools. This is excellent stuff and make my own when I need 20 or more cubic feet, and this has everything I like in mine. For smaller amounts this is great stuff at a very good price.

I can’t make it cheaper in small amounts. There are only a few brands that rate this good and the others were to expensive so I tried this and now I’m back for more.

For me the best pre-made soil i have ever used. when I started I used fox farm but that dirt always has nats, which isn’t a big deal pretty common with organic soil but roots is like 1 out of 10 has nats fox farm is like every other bag and it burns seedlings.

roots I can put seeds right in it and no problems. been using this soil for about 8 years and the only thing better IMO would be making your own compost based soil.

Good soil for growing in pots or outdoors- good ratio of peat to compost- light and airy, my plants agree. I have zero complaints 🐷

I was so surprised to see this amazing product for sale on Ace Hardware.

This has easily become my favorite potting soil. It is great for both houseplants and outdoor gardens. It has a high nutrient charge, so you don’t have to worry about feeding immediately after potting plants into media.

I prev used Coast of Maine soil, and it is quite a bit cheaper- but i love this, can see the results, and will continue to repurchase and recommend!.

I dont know if the bags were old or what but this was the worst experience ive had with any soil ive ever bought its been a struggle to get healthy plants out of it and im an experienced green thumb.

Waste of money and time. I for one will never use it again.

This is the very best potting soil I have used and I’m 69. It allows roots to grow easily for bigger yields.

Here where I live, in Texas, we luckily have two planting seasons; the usual late spring, after frost/summer season, and also the fallish season. We normally only freeze here in late January or February, if at all, living near the Gulf of Mexico.

We take advantage of that extra second planting season time. Although we have a compost pile, we usually use most of it on the first planting season. Even though I continue to add and grow our compost, it does take time to get it ready to use.

I’ve learned that if we wish to do our second garden planting, we need ready made, rich compost-like soil to have good results. I’m very impressed with the Miracle Grow Garden Soil for Vegetables and Herbs.

Some fall seasons bring rain to us, but this year, like a lot in the past, we are having many beautiful sunny mild weather days, and not so much rain. So the fact that this soil holds moisture is a huge help.

The thing I love the most, is the dark, rich, compost-like density that this product holds. I can continue to nurture my own compost pile for the spring garden, yet use this to have a healthy fall harvest.

My plants and herbs seem to really like this soil, and are doing well, so we plan to continue using it in years to come. With grocery prices soaring, we all can use gardening to not only save money, but feel good about food that we grow ourselves.

I’m thinking about adding a bag or two, of this soil to my compost pile in the spring and actually making a much bigger home garden next year So far, the plants are growing well and happy, and with a little bit of water and nutrients.

I am confident that we will have a great fall/early winter harvest once again this year. I highly recommend this soil as being dark, rich, and plant happy. Although it’s best for our outdoor garden, I also plant fresh herbs and some easy to grow indoor veggies, like green onions and some herbs, and I’m using this nice rich soil to do so, and they are also doing well.

I do recommend this rich garden soil for all of your garden plant needs! It’s good stuff!.

Ruined my tomatoes. Oh, they grew like crazy and had a ton of fruit. But as the tomatoes started to turn red EVERY ONE had blossom rot due to an inadequacy of minerals in the soil. Oh and this company claims they back their product.

This is only true if you keep the receipt and UPC code from the bag. I naturally trusted what I was buying…with a photo of flowers and vegetables…including a tomato on the bag was formulated correctly.

I tossed the bags. Long before the plants started to product tomatoes. This is what the company had to say so do t use it in a raised garden! “ Miracle-Gro All Purpose Garden Soil is designed for in-ground use only.

It is not formulated for use in containers, even large containers such as your watering trough. Soil in containers does not benefit from the natural processes of environmental interaction, such as natural fertilization.

Soil in containers is also prone to compacting, which is why our Potting Mixes use a blend of mediums that are designed to maintain soil aeration even when water has been applied. We do not recommend Miracle-Gro All Purpose Garden Soil for use in containers.

We want you to be confident in our products. For that reason, we offer a product guarantee to our consumers. Simply mail either the original itemized cash register receipt or the UPC barcode removed from each product packaging to the address below and I will promptly issue a refund check.

Emailed proofs of purchase do not qualify as originals. ”.

My back yard has terrible clay dirt. I’ve been very unlucky at growing vegetables and herbs in the clay dirt. I am very optimistic to use the Miracle-Gro Garden Soil for Vegetables and Herbs. Miracle-Gro is a very popular brand.

I’ve put this Miracle-Gro Garden Soil in pots and am growing basil, lavender, mint, parsley, and rosemary indoors. The Miracle-Gro Garden Soil for Vegetables and Herbs is enriched with a blend of compost, plant food, and other essential nutrients.

The Miracle-Gro Garden Soil for Vegetables and Herbs bag advertises that it will feed plants for up to 3 months. Furthermore, this soil has moisture control which means it protects against over and under watering.

I believe this soil will increase my herb harvest during the months of November and December as it becomes cold outside. I will continue to use this product in the future and definitely recommend this product.

This Performance Organics®️ all purpose container mix from Miracle-Gro®️ is some seriously good stuff. I’m using it for my tomato plants, perrinials and even my herbs and the results so far are downright amazing! This potting soil easily yields up to 2 times more bounty than any other potting soil I’ve used.

It’s already blended with aged compost which is so convenient. And it provides plants enough nutrition for up to 3 months which is perfect for me and my busy schedule. There’s easy to follow instructions for transplanting and seeding right on the back of the bag.

And there’s even lighting, watering and repotting directions. Plus I absolutely love that this product is made from only organic and natural ingredients! It makes me feel so much better and safer about eating my tomatoes and herbs.

And this all purpose container mix fits perfectly with my green lifestyle. I truly couldn’t be happier or more impressed with this product! Highly recommended!!.

I tried an experiment where I planted 4 types of tomato seeds on a 12 cell pk container. I planted 4 seeds in a row in my homemade soil mix and the rest in black gold soil. In 3 weeks time most of tomato plants in my homemade soil grew well and almost 3-4 times talker with better developed leaves.

The tomatoes grown in the black gold are not growing very well. Also I had to throw away my batch of tomato plants I tried to grow with black gold soil; they were stunted and sickly looking. I had also used the black gold for houseplants and had to change out the soil after the plants looked like they were dying.

Good, peat based organic potting soil. I use it as the base for my container garden mix. It has a good amount of perlite in it, so it allows oxygen to reach the roots, and it drains well. You’ll need to add your own slow release organic fertilizer to it, as there’s not much food in there for your plants after their first three weeks.

This potting soil has a nice fine texture, with few stray pebbles and small wood chunks. I rarely encounter a tiny piece of shredded plastic. The price per 1. 5 cu ft bag has really jumped lately, maybe due to the increased demand from the large number of pandemic inspired, new home vegetable gardeners.

It’s better quality than the mega lawnseed companies’ sludgy/chunky potting dirt, but not nearly as good as a plug-and-play, loamy, pre-fertilized potting mix like FoxFarms ‘Ocean Forest Soil’, or Coast Of Maine’s ‘Bar Harbor Mix’.

started growing lettuce seeds and whear grass, mostly to keep fresh greens in a daily diet. kind of fun really. this is a high quality, clean and usable medium that produces great tasting lettuce and sweetwheat grass juixe.

not sophisticated enough to comparison shop, my experience with organic soils is pretty dated, but there is so much to gain and learn, worth the effort. cost effective, you get about as much net soil using the plant material makes it a growing concern.

if you have some one who can learn from this, great way to teach nutrition. nothing tastes better than fresh organic lettuce. there are new slow juicers that are about $100, they don’t heat the juice and it preserves rhe nutrients and tastes great.

living out of a can is ok, but live plants are so much better and cheaper. this is real nutrition, not a vitamin pill that will damage your digestive system.

Was gifted a bag of Baccato potting soil last year, it was nice soil. I do a lot of propagating each Spring and always need more dirt. Ordered 2 more bags this year, and was not as pleased with it. When I got halfway through both bags the soil was soil like a brick.

Haven’t decided if I will order more, as I always need more.

I have used Baccto 30 years and never a complaint. But, four months ago I bought 50# and it was unrecognizable! Sand replaced the peat and it’s terrible for my plants. Not to mention the price increased 50%! I am so disappointed!.

This quality potting soil is consistently, year after year, about the best buy on the market. It’s got the fertilizer and moisture holder in there too.

Several different types of soil all mixed together into one bag. Overall Great potting mix.

This is a richly textured potting soil and so far, my plants are doing fine with it. Some of my plants required a lighter textured soil, so I just mixed in some soil alternative and it worked great. still early in the season, I have to wait and see how things go.

Bought 4 bags of this “soil”. Read numerous reviews about the debris so wasn’t surprised about the sticks, plastic and was lucky not to find other things. What did surprise me was the infestation of gnats? spiders? mites? small creamy white bugs.

Didn’t really notice them until I had done some planting and disturbed them. The soil was teeming with them so all 4 bags must of been infested. Luckily I used it only in one garden. Now have to try and get rid of them.

Unless you have a sure way of getting rid of these creatures I won’t recommend this product. Quite surprised at the over all poor quality of the “soil” to be associated with Miracle Gro. We assumed that a well-know company would pay better attention to quality.

I must stress that all the bags came from a brand-new skid – it still had the plastic wrap on it when I bought it.

I a have been noticing the quality of potting Soil Mixed for the past 5 years. Night price but low quality. There aren’t much real dirts but mostly finer much or grinned plants, trees and you can name it all.

I live I’m Austin Texas. When using all these grinned trees or barks they are baits for termites in a couple of months. Bring more termites to my property. When you dig up dirts in most ground in Texas, you can expect great amount of clay and limestone kind of dirt.

Not good for gardening at all. Spent quite a bit of money buy Miracles Soil or potting mixed but really I am pretty paying for grind trees and shrub. The big bag cost around $15. So not worthy. Please bring back your good quality of dirts if we have to spend $ on dirts.

The pros are simply put it is great soil with the right amount of near everything and it’s of nice fine sift. It’s great for one go of 4 months or so. After that it lacks slow release nutrients “that can be added” on the big con is “bugs” “larvae” this can be fixed with a bit of prep with neem oil and insecticidal soaps.

Plenty of ways to fix but for the price. maybe should already be done. The only problem with the cost is that the distribution is scarce. Very much so in rural areas. It’s a solid hour and 45 minute drive to my nearest dealer/carrier but if you take the trip and find one you’ll be sour that the price on the 1.

5 cubic feet bags are only $15. 99 and that’s full retail per one bag. They go on sale and offer discounts on larger purchases. I understand shipping costs. I only wish they would get this stuff in more locations.

Tractor supply or Co-OP at least. It’s a bit of a black market with a bug problem. I spray with neem oil and soap “notdawn” then flip the soil and repeat 3-4 times. I then let soil completely dry out again placing in extreme cold helps too.

I then re-warm and re-wet with spring water adding bone meal, broke up organic jobes fertilizer sticks, blood meal plus perlite and vermiculite for drainage and anti packing properties and finally about 5 lbs or 6 gallons of cocoa coir.

Best soil I’ve personally ever used after a little prep work. ps: the neem oil and soap will keep away the bugs gnats and larvae best part its completely natural and from a tree. Smells bad and I do not recommend during flowering cycles.

So surprised at the improvement in this last order of Ocean Forest soil from Walmart. Last time, the boxes that hold each bag of soil were falling apart upon delivery, because they weren’t packed correctly, which seemed like a reoccurring problem for those who order in bulk like this.

THIS order was packed TIGHTLY (key part of packing) with bubble wrap. This prevents these heavy soil bags from bouncing against the sides of the box during transit, which eventually cause the boxes these bags come in to fall apart, causing the bags to rip and soil to fall out and dry out.

The soil itself looks MUCH better than my last bulk purchase, which had a lot more sticks and large chunks of wood (there’s still some, but not nearly as much as before). Soil felt moist but not wet, which is exactly what you’d expect from high-dollar pre-mixed soil.

In the past, some bags were fine, while others were wet from bag leaks, yet others bone dry and lifeless. I felt guilty ordering such heavy items and making shipping people have to labor over such a big order, but I literally can’t get this dirt for this price ANYWHERE locally.

So thank you!.

I discovered this product last year and was totally blown away! You can literally see your plants growing once you pot them using this soil. My garden is in pots on my deck and I am amazed with how well they all are doing.

I started some seeds last week and decided to use this soil instead of my seed starter soil. In 3 days my seeds had sprouted and are doing great! I told my son this product is soil on steroids lol! I can’t remember how many bags I used last year but to date this year I have purchased 8 bags.

I have repotted houseplants using this soil and they grow like crazy!!! Best soil I have ever used, they have a customer for life!!!.

I used this for a few pots. I’m not a great plant parent, so I didn’t put much hope into growing anything and just picked easy stuff. I have potatoes growing in this mix and they are doing just fine.

It’s on the patio, so I haven’t noticed any gnats. I also started some “Zombie Plant” seeds in another container of this soil. Again, on the patio so I can’t say if there are gnats. The seeds sprouted and are doing well.

Not sure what the actual name of these are, but they seem to be thriving. This soil shipped well and lots to be just fine for my needs.

I love this soil,it is very fine no sticks .This is my 3rd order and I will order again in the future .Delivery was guickly and arrived in good condition.The peat makes dark and rich soil.Thank You

This is Not dirt to fill or plant grass seed. It was wet. I dried it enought to “spread” it. It hardened so hard no seed comes up, I had to break it up, and now I’m going to the nursery to get dirt the right way.

All these bagged products are the worst ever. Get dirt from your local nursery delivered and use a wheel barrel.

We bought this because our local Ace here in GA did not have what we normally buy in stock; Cowart-brand premium top soil. This stuff had a lot more bark-type mulch material in it than the Cowart does, and incidentally was almost twice as expensive.

The Cowart is obviously a higher quality top soil, and the lower price is a bonus, so we’ll be sticking with it from now on.

I needed some good soil for my sad garden. Read these reviews and raced to Ace to pick up three bags. Got them home, dumped them out, and the “soil” looks no different from what I could get at half the price from big box stores.

It seems mostly to be mulch; hardly anything resembling actual soil. I hate buying stuff in plastic bags where you can’t actually see what you’re buying.

My wife used to grow herbs and cat grass for furry ones. Worked very and was a great mix. Has enough leftover to grow some indoor over winter. Clean product.

We bought this soil to add into the ground around new trees the we were planting. The consistency of this soil was great, and the trees are doing very well. You can’t beat the price for the quality.

Jolly Rancher is the name most prominate on the bag. I bought this because it has no plant food etc in it. I put it into the hen yard. They love scratching in it.