Diana, I forgot to mention, after your post last month referencing the “Expert Gardener” (Wally World) Garden Soil, that it seems to work pretty well for me. There is some variance - two years ago, what was at “our” WM store was more like potting soil than garden soil, but I certainly was not going to complain, as too dense soil is my biggest problem anyway. (Drainage of this product, purchased last year, at least for the 1st year, and if not compacted aggressively, seems fine.) Occasionally there’s a rock, and a couple days ago a bag I opened up had a few of some sort of ~3/8” seeds sprouting in it, but, generally my plants grow well in it, and sometimes WM blows it out very cheaply on clearance in the fall.
ALSO, the “Expert Gardener” Tomato and Vegetable Garden Plant Food has been QUITE good for me. I even used it on my overwintered Impatiens pot this Spring, and that pot of plants is doing fantastically well & flowering like crazy. In fact, this product seems to promote flowering even better than flower food mixtures I’ve used - I’m not sure why, though it does have quite a list of nutrients in it.
One disadvantage is that it seems to promote early flowering and fruiting while a tomato plant is not yet grown large, and then the plant is putting energy into sometimes smallish fruits “too soon”. It’s almost as if I used “Super Phosphate” too much and too early, but this product is much lower phosphate content, so, I think it must be something about the other “micronutrients” in combination with the (10%) phosphate that is punching up the flowering early. My application of the “Expert Gardener” Tomato and Vegetable Garden Plant Food has not been heavy at all. (Another benefit, it would seem: A little goes a long way.)
Of course, I always have the option to nip off new flowers or fruits, or choose to have early but smallish fruits on a couple plants and push a few others to growth, not fruits: On a couple I am trying less of this product and risking some chicken guano to promote growth — the main risk being varmints who want to dig in the guano. (Time to try out those subsonic .22 LR hollow point rounds in the rifle? Buy more “dog proof traps? Spread more hot pepper on top of the guano or around the plants?)
To tell the truth, maybe it’s just my imagination, but overall this product, “Expert Gardener” Tomato and Vegetable Garden Plant Food, seems to work for me a little better than either the Miracle Grow or Schultz similar products. But, maybe I’m just biased because I got it on clearance. Hahahaha!
I’m glad you like those products. I bought a bag of the ‘Expert Gardener’ soil on Friday to use in the hanging baskets I still wanted to pot up.
As far as fertilizers go, if you read the contents and the percentages the store brands are every bit as good as the national brands. And I would bet you a Kwik Trip Glazer Doughnut that they’re made in the same factory.
Just like the Piggly Wiggly canned green beans are really Del Monte canned green beans!
Though who would eat canned green beans when we’ll be swimming in fresh-picked in a few weeks is beyond me, LOL!