House plants are temperamental creatures. Each has its own set of needs and requirements for good health. It can be difficult to know how to meet all of those needs, so many beginning gardeners turn to pre-packaged commercial soil for all their plants and gardening projects. While pre-packaged soil is convenient, you can widen its range if you learn to customize it by adding a few ingredients.

The following are two examples of customizing store-bought soil; there are myriad other ways of altering soil to suit particular plants. Once you have become familiar with the ingredients in potting soil, you will be able to experiment with your own combinations, gauging how your plants react, until you find the perfect blends.

Customized Pre-packaged Soil for Cactus
Ingredients
2 parts store-bought potting mix
4 parts pumice
1 part #12 silica sand

Mix all ingredients together thoroughly; store in a covered container until ready to use.

Customized Pre-packaged Soil for Bulbs
Ingredients
1 part store-bought potting mix
1 part vermiculite
1 part charcoal, medium grade
3 parts sand, #3 grit (such as poultry grit)
2 parts peat

Mix all ingredients together thoroughly; store in a covered container until ready to use.

All ingredients available from nurseries and garden stores