The Potting Mix You Buy in Utah is Not the Same Quality As It Was in the Past

If you love to garden you will want to know about the significant drop in the quality of potting mixes in the last few years. If you have found the growth of your plants suffering, take a closer look at the soil you are planting in. 

Inflation Creates Tough Choices for All Products 

We have seen prices rise starting in 2021 in everything from groceries, clothing, to vehicles, and houses. When selling a product, manufacturers try to cover costs by raising prices, shrinking the product, or lessening the quality. 

This last option is the most deceptive. You may not be familiar with what goes into every product, and a change in content might go under the radar. Dirt for your garden is one of these that you might not be aware of. 

Peat Moss Has Tripled in Price 

Potting mix for your garden contains a blend of dirt, compost, and peat moss that helps get seed started. The third ingredient, peat moss is harvested in bogs mostly in Canada and helps hold moisture in the soil.  

Due to inflation, environmental concerns, and recent tariffs, peat moss has become more expensive. To keep the price of potting mix at a lower cost, many brands have put far less peat moss in the bag and more forest products that are cheaper. 

I discovered this recently when opening a quality brand of potting mix and finding mostly compost. You can get good compost from the reuse center for far less than a bag of potting mix.

This is something to be aware of when planning next year's garden. The more course mix are not useful when starting plants from a seed.