The Best DIY Soil Mix Recipe – the Imperfectly Happy home

The best DIY soil mix recipe has been a long time in the making. This DIY soil mix isn’t just something I threw together on a whim and hoped it worked; I spent a lot of tireless hours researching this! I love this soil as a DIY potting soil and for my Square Foot Garden Boxes.

I’ve been using a combination of Mel’s Mix and potting soil on our little homesteading; and the results haven’t been horrible. But I wanted to take our garden to the next level. I wanted a DIY soil mix that would hold moisture, be full of rich nutrition, be lighter (less compaction) and more sustainable. The result is the best DIY soil mix recipe around!

DIY Potting Soil and Raised Bed Recipe
I mixed mine up in a wheel barrow this time but this makes mixing a lot harder.  It would be better to do this on a thick tarp.

10 gallons of coconut coir
5 gallons of sifted compost (Hopefully you’re composting at home)
2 gallons of worm castings
8 quarts of organic vermiculite
5 cups of Azomite

I like to mix in each ingredient at a time.

1. So first I put down the coconut coir, then I added my sifted compost and used my hands to incorporate them together.
2. I repeated that with the worm castings and vermiculite.
3. Lastly I added the azomite (be careful not to breathe the dust in!)

Now it is ready for use or you can store it in a bin or bags.  I like to keep a top on it so it won’t get too dried out.

Check out this side by side comparison.  On the left is a popular store-bought raised bed soil and on the right is my mix.

Now, let’s talk about the ingredients and why I included them

Ingredient 1 – Coconut Coir

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