At the time of this article, we are still engaged in struggling through a pandemic that makes venturing outside a risky undertaking. It would appear that the only safe place is in our garden, spending quality time planning and working for bountiful harvests of fruit and vegetables that we can share with family, friends, and organizations whose purpose is to feed the hungry.

With these goals of sharing the bounty of our garden in mind, care must be taken about what is put into the garden to ensure that what comes from our garden meets our expectations. Many factors come into play when planting and maintaining our crops before we can see the results of our hard work at harvest time. There are three key points to keep in mind: choosing the potting soil that best meets your needs, using fertilizer according to manufacturer's directions, and finally at the end of the season, recycling the remaining soil. Fortunately, there is a lot of help available on the San Joaquin County Master Gardener's website. Everything you need to know to proceed is available.

Whether we are looking at a big box nursery section or a small independent nursery, there are many choices of packaged soil mixes. It can be an unpleasant surprise if you need to fill five wine barrels that take two large bags each, and the bags are almost $20 each. Even if your budget can handle it, it is still mind boggling to realize that raising your own produce may be fun and fulfilling, but certainly not cost effective considering the number of great Farmer's Markets we have available locally.

There are a few points to consider when making a purchase of potting soil. For most, price is a consideration and another is whether you will be using containers or in-ground planting. The highest yields are crops grown in ground with carefully selected soil amendments mixed into the native soil. Container-grown plants require closer monitoring because they are apt to dry out quicker than in-ground and they use up the nutrients in the soil rapidly, so supplemental feeding is critical throughout the season.

Being human, we are tempted to buy the seasonal large bags of potting soil with added compost and fertilizers from our favorite big box store because of the price compared to our usual favorite. As we know, different brands have different formulations and despite reading label statements of promised bounty, we can wind up being disappointed with poor crops. Specialty mixes are available to maximize growing of groups of plants such as African violets, cactus and succulents, citrus, roses, etc.

During the growing season and at the end of harvest, it is important to have established connections with organizations that distribute food to the hungry. If we have been blessed with bountiful crops, our friends and family will probably hide from us when they see another bag of zucchini on their doorstep, but many organizations will gladly accept the fresh veggies.

What do we do with the now-spent potting soil that cost us a lot of money at the beginning of the season? Some sources say remove the top portion of the used soil and replace it with new soil according to the expected depth of the new plants' roots (winter vegetables). Other recommendations are to replace the soil in your container once a year because of salts that accumulate from the water. At any rate, we have used soil to recycle somewhere. One of the best uses for old potting soil is as an amendment for in-ground native soil. Spread it around and slightly work it in so it can continue to serve a purpose in the garden.

Now, do we remember which of the new potting soils we tried worked like magic and which one worked like toxic waste in a bag? Garden Journals are both friend and foe at the same time. Having the information we need for next year is critical if we are to learn from experience what works and what does not. If we don't make entering important information a habit, we are going to be stuck repeating our same mistakes. Let's do ourselves a favor and try writing down the brand, type and price of our purchases. Who says you can't teach an old gardener a new trick?