Soil mixture for planters?

[therose75]

Hi all

I'm a first time grower...

We'll be making some planters to put in our garden and I'd like some info regarding soil mix. Over here in France they have something called 'universal soil' which is supposed to suit all veg. Should I add anything else? Compost?I have some WATER ABSORBANT GEL CRYSTALS. I've heard it's a good idea to add some of our existing garden soil?

We'll be growing mostly tomatoes, courgettes, cucumbers and lettuce.

Thanks for any help!

[ESBkevin]

I like to be as organic as possible and adding something 'permanant' like Gel Crystals would make me nervous. Always add compost, make your own too and mulch well. Those will aid drainage and water retention better than Gel Crystals and also help avoid nutrient wash out. The great thing about lots of compost is that it sorts out all your problems naturaly, plants don't need special anything re PH because the soil cam sort itself out and feed the plants.

[snakeshack]

I use gel crystals in ornamental hanging baskets, but the jury's still out for me in its use in edibles so I don't use it on anything I'm going to eat.
I assume your " universal soil" is what we all refer to as multipurpose compost (MPC) and is suitable for veg growing in containers.
If your thinking of growing courgettes in containers you're going to need a big pot