Will my dirt recipe work?

[Quantum_greens]

Hi all ! This is my first post here.

I'm wanting to grow veggies indoors. It's mostly a hobby to keep my mind occupied and help me with anxiety and stress. I'm wanting to make my own soil to save money. Ideally I would just buy a few bags of expensive potting soil but I'm working on a tight budget. Any opinions on this recipe.

Coco Coir (Water retention)
Alfalfa Meal (for NK 2.5-0.5-2.5)
Perlite (for drainage)
Azomite (for trace minerals)
Bone meal (for P 3-15-0)

My thinking: (please correct me where my thinking is wrong)
Bone meal would round out the low P number of the alfalfa meal...
More alfalfa meal would have to be used because it's lower numbers...
If I used 10x more alfalfa meal than bone meal the overall NPK would be 25-5-25+3-15-0=28-20-25

Would the above added with some soil fungus/bacteria be a good recipe? I'm still not sure as to how much of the two meals and azomite to use...

I think I'm just over complicating this... IDK? I just like to find my own ingredients and maybe save some cash.. If anyone has any suggestions on things I can do to make a good all around soil that isn't $25+ per 2 cu ft bags that'd be great. I'm just kind of a little apprehensive because I just read an article from somewhere that the potting soil I use had sewer sludge from LA in it.

I tried my hand at soil recipe last summer and I really over did it on the vermiculite and the soil was so dry everything died...

 

[DirtMechanic]

Coir is expensive, but it is the latest trendy thing. So is alfalfa. What are you growing?

 

[Quantum_greens]

Dirt Mechanic,

Mostly what I'm going by is webpages... yea trendy and expensive isn't what I'm going for... lol but that's what Google told me yay!

But yes, I was wanting to do a "salad garden" lettuce, maybe spinach, kale, cherry tomatoes...

Maybe if I get really good I want to make a little "herbal tea" garden too... my mom gave me a velarian plant...maybe a spiramint, I also have a chamomile going but they are very small... I really like flowers too... but I don't know if that would be feasible or not... maybe a cosmos. I just really noticed that this summer the gardening has really helped with my anxiety and depression... I really hate the idea of not being able to continue indoors.

 

[alp]

Coir has little or no nutrients. Do you live in an apartment? Glad that gardening helps you relax. Go to several gardening centres and ask for advice for indoor veggie growing. You don't have to buy what they suggest. Just make a note and compare the prices.

Don't go for Coir as it dries up very quickly and has very little nutrients. Or just go for a proper bag of good quality compost and try to grow come and cut again salad leaves. Pak Choi is easy and delicious and mizuna is easy to grow. Or even try salad cress. You don't even need compost. Try those first to get more confidence. Just a bit of cotton wool and water and a transparent tray in a dark corner and you will have salad cress in 2 or 3 weeks.

 

[alp]

To improve the quality of your compost, you could do no worse than making a wormery. See here please!

Just put in the content of your hoover bag into it. Also add kitchen waste such as banana skins, celery end bits, potato and carrot peels and add some worms and soil from the garden. Add coffee grinds and seaweed if you can get hold of them. You really don't need to buy any worms. Just go around and see if you can find some bigger worms and put them in. This is a far better process than buying perlite and vermiculite or coir. Add a pinch of woodash. Not too much or it will kill the worm. If you want to go big, grind egg shells and porridge oats and throw them in. Soon you can harvest the compost tea and dilute it to add to your veg. Next year, you can even add the wormcast into your soil.

I got this wormery for free via recycling website.

You can see the worms. I removed them from the garden to the wormery. My sister in law told me that she bought worms. I never bother. Try thinking outside the circle.

 

[alp]

For the mustard cress. Very easy! Do have a go please! Good luck.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Dirt Mechanic,

Mostly what I'm going by is webpages... yea trendy and expensive isn't what I'm going for... lol but that's what Google told me yay!

But yes, I was wanting to do a "salad garden" lettuce, maybe spinach, kale, cherry tomatoes...

Maybe if I get really good I want to make a little "herbal tea" garden too... my mom gave me a velarian plant...maybe a spiramint, I also have a chamomile going but they are very small... I really like flowers too... but I don't know if that would be feasible or not... maybe a cosmos. I just really noticed that this summer the gardening has really helped with my anxiety and depression... I really hate the idea of not being able to continue indoors.

So what will you be using for a light source? Do you have LED growlights?

 

[DirtMechanic]

Just by way of interpretation, "Hoover Bag" is UK speak for a vacuum bag. I have been studying! Neat idea too!

 

[headfullofbees]

I'd probably go for fish, blood and bone, rather than just bonemeal, but at 1.5 times the application rate, first time only.