There is nothing more important to the health of your plants than the soil in which they grow. There are an infinite number of soils of every possible make-up and consistency. Some are sandy, others heavy with clay-some are rich and others barren. They range from desert sands in which only certain forms of cactus and sage will grow, to the deep loamy soil of the Midwestern plains which will grow any plant that will live in the climate.

Even the variations to be found in the make-up of potting soils are tremendous. If you look in ten different gardening books, the chances are you'll find ten different recipes for the best all-around potting soil - and the strange thing about it is that they would all be equally good. In theory, almost every plant grows best in a specific soil made up of an exact proportion of several different constituents. In practice, luckily for us, almost all plants adjust to a good basic soil combination of loam, sand, humus and fertilizer, plus small amounts of bone meal and sometimes peat moss.

If you plan to mix your own potting soil, the best way to go about it is to choose one of the basic mixtures, collect your materials and start to work. A good general mixture is made up of 2 parts loam to one part sand and one part humus. Into this should be mixed one-half part cow manure and a sprinkling of bone meal. You will need a pretty spacious place to work - probably in the cellar or the back porch, because it's difficult to handle buckets of dirt and sand, bags of manure, etc. without spilling some here and there. We're not making this job sound appetizing, frankly, because it isn't. It's messy, wasteful and smelly and not particularly efficient. But there's a solution. . . .

Just as most of us don't make our own soap any more, because it's less time consuming and therefore cheaper to buy it already packaged at the neighborhood grocery store, so we don't have to mix our own potting soil, as it can be easily and inexpensively purchased at the neighborhood ten-cent store, super market or garden supply store. There are a number of commercially packaged potting-soil mixtures on the market, some better than others, but all of them more than adequate for the job.

These soils have even greater advantages over do-it-yourself potting mixtures than just those of cleanliness and efficiency. Packaged potting soil is properly sterilized and therefore free from pests and mites and larvae. Frequently the gardener who makes up his own potting mixture using garden soil finds that he has brought in an infestation of insects as well as dirt. Further, you are sure that the soil you are giving your plants is one that has been mixed by professionals expressly for the purpose.

Potting soil is inexpensive to buy and easy to use. Unless you are planning to start a real greenhouse (in which case there's still a good deal to be said for it) it's a worthwhile expense. There is no sense in making it difficult either for yourself or for your plants when the means are at hand to do a better job more easily.

Because African Violets require a soil with a higher percentage of humus that most house plants, there are special African Violet soils available for sale on the market. This same soil can be used for good effect with ferns and other tropical plants and Begonias.

Humus
Humus is made up of decayed organic matter such as grasses, leaves and weeds which, because of its richness and ability to contain moisture, is used in a fairly heavy proportion with newly potted plants. A humus which has been made with a fairly heavy proportion of peat moss instead of other vegetable material will work more effectively than one made without it. Your garden supply store can provide you with a packaged humus in containers of from one to fifty pounds.