Question: What makes up a really good potting soil? How can I select one at the garden center, and how could I mix my own?

Answer: Great potting soils are lightweight. When you pick up a bag at the nursery, you should have the conscious thought that it’s lighter than you expected. Your homemade blend should include about 60 percent brown sphagnum peat moss (no heavyweight domestic American black peat), 20 percent fine bark mulch, 15 percent either perlite and 10 percent expanded shale. Use no native Texas soils. They’re simply too variable. Mix the soil thoroughly.