Potting Compost or Potting Mix!

Many thanks for your enquiry concerning the difference between potting compost and potting mix. In my experience, gardeners will refer to ‘standard’ or pre-bagged compost purchased from a garden centre or similar outlet as potting compost, whilst a medium they have created at home with their own specific ingredients – such as wormcast, sieved home-made garden compost or fertiliser for example – is usually regarded as a potting mix.

The latter is often used when growing on and potting up plants with particular needs (eg orchids) and for general growing, the bagged main-brand potting compost is more than suitable. You may already know that there are certain composts for potting on young seedlings, larger plants and mature specimens (often labelled no 1, 2 and 3 respectively on the John Innes scale) and each contains slightly different levels of loam, peat, sand and fertiliser. Just make sure you pick the right one for your plants!

I do hope this information is of help but please feel free to contact me with any further questions or queries you may have; many thanks once again for your enquiry and the best of luck with your growing this year

Martin