All plants in your yard need soil with a proper amount of essential nutrients, vitamins, and other all-around good stuff to thrive and grow beautifully, so purchasing the wrong additives can do your veggies, flowers, and bushes more harm than good.
However, the best compost for garden soil exists, and we’re here to recommend them to you.
Here are the best composts for garden soil you can buy in 2024:
- Best Compost Starter: Jobe's Organics Compost Starter
- Best For Compost Tea: Wiggle Worm WWSB30LB Unco Industries Builder Worm Castings
- Best For Composting Toilets: Hoffman 15503 Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss
- Compost And Manure Combo: Michigan Peat Compost and Manure
- Best For Vegetable Garden: Charlie's Compost
Best Compost Starter: Jobe's Organics Compost Starter
- Speed up the composting process
- Ideal for compost piles
- OMRI listed for organic gardening by USDA
- Improve soil conditions
- Help resist disease, insects, and drought during the growing season
- Long waiting time than advertised
No list of the best compost for garden can be complete without the Jobe's Organics Compost Starter which is popular among farmers and organic professionals.
Instead of tossing whatever organic nutrient content in a mixture and want it to work, Jobe’s Organics adds Biozome to create the best soil conditions to encourage plants to grow healthily.
The proprietary microorganism archaea in this unique family of completely organic fertilizer formulas can aggressively break down organic materials for faster improvement in the ground’s nutrient levels.
Some users still complained that it takes time to see the magical changes, though.
| Jobe's Organics Compost Starter Specifications | |
|---|---|
Capacity | N/A |
Highlight Features | Organic compost starter with Biozome Microbe Additive Certified organic means no synthetic chemicals Easy-pour bag |
Jobe's Organics Compost Starter is the key to nutrient-rich soil and healthy plants.
Best For Compost Tea: Wiggle Worm WWSB30LB Unco Industries Builder Worm Castings
- Made in the USA
- OMRI listed
- Organic and odorless
- Perfectly balanced for immediate and long term absorption
- Lightweight & versatile
- Suitable for both indoor and outdoor use
- Last a long time
- Perform better when supplementing with another fertilizer
The miracles of the Wiggle Worm WWSB30LB Unco Industries Builder Worm Castings are easily witnessed in the healthy growth and good yields of your vegetables, flowers, and houseplants.
This fertilizer’s outstanding results must be associated with the manure’s water-soluble nature. Not only do these nutrients help your gardens explode with veggies, bushes, and flowers within a matter of weeks, but they also aid them in such a long run regarding their survival.
The downside, though, is that it performs that great only when supplementing with another fertilizer.
| Wiggle Worm WWSB30LB Unco Industries Builder Worm Castings Specifications | |
|---|---|
Capacity | N/A |
Highlight Features | An organic fertilizer featuring pure earthworm castings |
Being the Mother Nature's best kept growing secret, the Wiggle Worm WWSB30LB Unco Industries Builder Worm Castings are the top pick for those considering home gardening as their therapeutic hobby.
Best For Composting Toilets: Hoffman 15503 Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss
- Increase the sandy soil's capacity to hold moisture and nutrients
- Blend with perlite & peat moss for the custom soilless mix
- 99.8 percent organic
- Reduce heavy metals’ bioavailability
- Reduce odor
- Light on labor
- Absorbent
- Too finely chopped
If you are interested in organic vegetable gardening, chances are you’ve heard about the Hoffman 15503 Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss at least once, the thing that "happens" since the peat moss harvested from peat bogs break down into a rich, dark, humus-like material.
Canadian Sphagnum peat moss is very absorbent and can retain up to 20 times its weight in moisture.
Also, it does an excellent job of slowly releasing water as your plants need it & drying out feces inside the composting toilet. That way, it protects soil & potting mixes from hardening and adds natural beneficial materials to it while reducing the carbon footprint.
All of the organic ingredients are chopped up into much finer pieces, which can seamlessly stay in a pot, but too finely chopped to be held in a wire basket.
| Hoffman 15503 Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Specifications | |
|---|---|
Capacity | 1-1/2 cubic feet (42.5 liters) |
Highlight Features | Canadian sphagnum peat moss Premium grade of horticultural 99.8 percent organic |
If the bucket solution is heavy on labor, yet you are interested in a composting toilet’s ecology; then the Hoffman 15503 Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss is an easy & efficient way to go.
Compost And Manure Combo: Michigan Peat Compost and Manure
- Good at improving the soil
- No smell
- Easy to use
- Expensive
It will be better to choose the Michigan Peat Compost and Manure if you need the benefits of a compost and manure combo.
This mixture creates a nutrient-high soil amendment because the combination promotes healthy microbial activity in the soil. So, it can improve the soil fertility and overall soil health. Thanks to a high content of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, your plants are provided with more essential nutrients for better growth.
The addition of manure plays an important role in improving soil structure and water-holding capacity.
If your garden has a lot of leafy greens and corn, this composted manure will offer a high level of nitrogen.
| Michigan Peat Compost and Manure Specifications | |
|---|---|
Capacity | 40 Liters |
Highlight Features | Compost and manure Odor free |
The Michigan Peat Compost and Manure is a compost and manure combo, so it can provide your plants and soil a lot of nutrients.
Best For Vegetable Garden: Charlie's Compost
- Not strong smell
- Versatible
- Not cheap
When choosing a compost for a vegetable garden, it's very important to put safety first because vegetables are edible plants. In this case, you should choose the Charlie's Compost that is OMRI listed for organic use. This means that the produce is all-natural and safe, so you can set your mind at rest to consume fruits and vegetables in your garden.
| Charlie's Compost Specifications | |
|---|---|
Capacity | 10 lbs |
Highlight Features | Locally produced compost from chicken manure |
Charlie's Compost is safe enough to use in your fruit and vegetable garden.
How To Choose The Best Compost For Garden Soil?
Capacity
- Though it is advisable to make your own compost if possible, for most gardeners, it is much easier to buy pre-packaged compost.
- Buying compost in bags at a local garden center is good, but going for bulk is better. That’s budget-friendlier and you will have to bring in more than a yard.
Odor-free
- Ask any farmers, home gardener, or organic professionals, and they might tell you that the worst & most uncomfortable part of any gardening process is the compost’s unpleasant strong aroma.
- Go with the model without any odor, which can transform your time spent on gardening into the one pleasant on your nose.
Manure vs. Organic Compost
- When it comes to the best additives for soil enrichment, manure from livestock is the first option to come to home gardeners’ mind.
- However, this can end up unintended affecting the soil’s nutrient content. For example, chicken manure possesses high nitrogen content while dairy cattle manure contains a low nutrient analysis.
Which Brands Make The Best Compost For Garden Soil?
Wiggle Worm
- Proudly locally owned & operated, Wiggle worm has been working directly with gardeners & farmers to make sure that their plants’ requirements in terms of nutrients and microbes are satisfied.
- From certified organic worm castings to custom composting machinery, this worm composting business makes short work out of garden work.
Blue Ribbon Organics
- Blue ribbon organics has something special and unique that its competitors just cannot offer. 100% local food & soil source is this family-owned & - run brand’s best recipe.
Jobe’s Company
- Jobe’s Company has been famous for creating high-class products for home and improvement, and the original line of Jobe’s® brand of fertilizers, compost, and plant spikes, not surprisingly, falls in line with that reputation.
- Any of the 200 garden products by this Texas-based manufacturer available at local stores across North America can bring the soil back to life.
FAQs
When should you put compost on your garden?
Late autumn is considered as the best time to spread your compost over your garden bed, and cover it with a layer of winter mulch, such as shredded/chopped leaves and straw.
By spring, soil organisms will have broken the compost down into the soil & made them biologically active, thus helping build up richer fertile soil.
Also, you can dig in soil amendments roughly 14 days before the spring planting time.
Can you have too much compost in your garden?
Compost provides soils and gardens with both organic matter & natural nutrients essential for plant growth, but too much of it could become toxic.
Can I plant directly into compost?
Compost mixed with topsoil & water can do the magic, as it aids in moisture retention in sandy soil and good drainage in heavy solid soil. Therefore, planting directly in pure compost may sound tempting but is not the best planting method at all.
Is compost or fertilizer better?
What makes compost and fertilizer different from each other? While the former enhances the natural soil & promote the growth of healthy microbe to create a favorable environment for plants, the latter works to feed them.
To create your own compost, the plant remnants added to the mixture must be void of soil-borne pathogens which might cause an infestation in healthy plants. Also, expect to wait for one month or two for the decomposed organic matter to fully break down and great composting efforts’ results witnessed.
Though most types of fertilizers can effectively and quickly amend the soil for healthy plants’ growth, some might contain synthetic chemicals while others might overload the garden beds with nutrients.
What is the best ratio of compost to soil?
Mix equal parts sharp sand, compost, and garden soil for the classic soil-based mix. Also, you can cover your perennial flower gardens with a compost layer no thicker than 1/4 to 1/2 inch.
Sandy soil should incorporate 2 parts compost and 1 part soil for the addition of organic matter essential for your veggies & flowers to thrive. If soil in the raised bed is heavy clay, lighten the soil by perlite instead of sand.
Is compost good for vegetable garden?
Compost is good for vegetable gardens. However, since all of the decomposed remains of organic materials will contribute to improving crop yield, you should not cover your vegetable garden with a thick layer of it.
Ideally, spread a layer of 1 inch or two of compost over your soil once in early spring and again after the harvesting season.
Conclusion
Now, there you’ve got the list of the best compost for garden! By purchasing one of the models above, you're investing in not only the veggies but also your health & body.
Harry RamosI’m Harry Ramos, who's crazy about all things green. I’m here to share some experience in my gardening adventure and how to choose the best products for your garden. Let's dig in, get our hands dirty, and celebrate the simple, earthy pleasures of the garden together!
