When it comes to cultivating a lush lawn or a thriving vegetable garden, soil health is paramount. Soil amendments—materials added to the soil to improve its structure, fertility, and nutrient content—are the key to ensuring your plants get the nutrients and growing conditions they need. Amongst the Top 5 compost soil amendments, you’ll find: organic compost, peat, composted horse manure, mushroom soil compost, and Purple Cow Classic compost. Each of these amendments brings a unique set of benefits, so let’s break down how they can enhance your garden and lawn in a way that will help you decide which one is right for you.

1. Organic Compost

Organic compost has been the gardener’s best friend for a long time. Many gardeners refer to it as “Black Gold.” Made from decomposed organic matter such as food scraps, leaves, small twigs and grass clippings, it’s a rich, natural soil conditioner that works wonders in both vegetable gardens and lawns. It’s readily available almost anywhere – and you can make your own using these same components by creating a home compost pile or container.

Organic compost is a nutrient-rich, crumbly, dark-colored material that’s made by breaking down organic matter through a natural process called composting. The process speeds up decomposition by creating an environment where bacteria, fungi, and other organisms can break down organic materials like leaves, food scraps, grass clippings, and more. The end product, compost, can be used as a fertilizer to enrich soil and plants in gardening, horticulture, and agriculture – naturally. In many ways organic compost meets many of the requirements of organic soil.

Benefits:

• Nutrient-Rich: Organic Compost is packed with essential nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. It also contains trace minerals and beneficial microorganisms that enrich the soil.
• Improves Soil Structure: Organic Compost helps to break up heavy clay soils, allowing for better drainage. In sandy soils, it helps to retain moisture, preventing nutrients from leaching away.
• Enhances Soil Biology: It introduces beneficial microbes and earthworms, which help break down organic matter and make nutrients available to plants.
• Environmentally Friendly: Composting reduces the need for chemical fertilizers and helps reduce waste by recycling organic materials like the ones most homeowners regularly produce.

Best Uses: Organic compost is versatile and can be used in vegetable gardens, flower beds, and lawns. For vegetable gardens, it improves nutrient content, while for lawns, it aids in moisture retention and prevents compacted soil. It’s one of the most economical of all our compost options and is able to be used for practically any garden or lawn application.

2. Peat

Peat is an organic material that forms in waterlogged environments over many years. Peat is a common and favorite soil amendment due to its moisture-retaining properties.

Peat is not commonly used as a standalone product. In fact, by itself it’s not a good growing medium beyond starting seeds from scratch. Even though peat can help your soil retain nutrients, it hardly contains any nutrients at all in and of itself. Peat also doesn’t add sufficient nutrients to the soil for healthy plant growth on its own so you have to add other organic components like topsoil along with it.

Peat offers a range of benefits when incorporated into your gardening practices as a soil amendment. Its ability to loosen compacted soils, enhance aeration, and improve overall soil structure is invaluable. What’s more, peat is a natural source of essential nutrients and beneficial microbes, creating an ideal environment for robust plant growth. Its water retention properties are particularly noteworthy, ensuring your garden remains consistently hydrated, and reducing the need for frequent watering. Additionally, peat not only suppresses weeds but also maintains a cool and moist environment for your plants. For those starting seeds or nurturing young plants, peat is an indispensable ally, making it a must-have for anyone embarking on a gardening endeavor.

Benefits:

• Moisture Retention: Peat holds water exceptionally well – 25x’s its own weight, making it ideal for plants that require consistent moisture levels, like those in vegetable gardens.
• Acidic pH: Peat is naturally acidic, making it a good choice for acid-loving plants such as blueberries, azaleas, and rhododendrons. So be sure to only use this compost on plants that prefer lower soil alkalinity. Common garden veggies like most tomatoes and peppers can also benefit from peat as a soil amendment.
• Lightens Soil: It helps loosen heavy soils and improves aeration, creating a better environment for plant roots to thrive.

Best Uses: Peat is perfect for enhancing the soil in raised garden beds, vegetable patches, and flower gardens where moisture retention and a lower pH is crucial. It is not typically recommended for lawns due to its acidic properties.

3. Composted Horse Manure

Composted horse manure is a nutrient-packed, earthy soil amendment derived from the droppings of horses that have been decomposed through an extended composting process.

Composted horse manure can be very good for gardens. It’s an economical, organic fertilizer that’s rich in nutrients that help plants grow and flourish, even in areas with poor soil. Horse manure can also improve soil structure and water retention, and help plants resist salinity. It’s often recommended for crops like lettuce, tomatoes, and mint, and can also be used for ornamental plants and fruit. Composted horse manure differs from raw manure as it been aged and turned regularly so it looks more like dirt than manure. And it doesn’t smell nearly as bad.

Benefits:

• Rich in Nitrogen: Horse manure provides an excellent source of nitrogen, a key nutrient for plant growth.
• Improves Soil Structure: It helps lighten heavy soils, making it easier for roots to penetrate and allowing for better water retention.
• Balanced Fertility: While high in nitrogen, horse manure also contains phosphorus and potassium, making it a balanced addition to the soil.

Best Uses: Composted horse manure is perfect for vegetable gardens, especially for plants that require a lot of nutrients. It’s also excellent for lawns, helping to boost grass growth while enriching the soil.

Note: It’s important to use fully composted horse manure, as fresh manure can be too strong and may burn plants. It also needs time to break down to ensure the nutrients are accessible. Our horse manure has been well-aged and is turned regularly.

4. Mushroom Soil Compost

Mushroom soil compost is the leftover material from growing mushrooms. It’s comprised of organic materials such as straw, peat and horse manure. Our Mushroom Compost is more accurately “Mushroom Soil” since it also contains hardwood fine mulch, which makes it more easily usable by both the end-user and us as it allows us to readily run the product through our blender / pulverizer when the product is part of one of our soil blends.

Using mushroom compost has numerous benefits for your garden. It improves soil quality, provides essential nutrients, increases microbial activity, helps control pests and diseases, and is environmentally friendly. It’s also a versatile, odorless option to increase the health of your plants. However, mushroom compost is not always the best choice for garden vegetables that prefer alkaline soil.

Benefits:

• Nutrient-Rich: Mushroom compost is packed with nutrients, including organic matter, trace minerals, and nitrogen.
• Excellent for Soil Aeration: It’s lighter and airier than some other organic amendments, which is great for improving drainage and soil structure.
• Slightly Acidic: Like peat, mushroom compost has a slightly acidic pH, which is beneficial for certain plants but may need to be balanced for others.

Best Uses: Mushroom compost is ideal for vegetable gardens, especially for crops like tomatoes, peppers, and lettuce, which thrive in slightly acidic conditions. It can also be used to enrich flower beds and garden soils, but it may not be the best choice for lawns due to its acidity.

5. Purple Cow Classic Compost

Purple Cow Classic compost is a national branded organic, nutrient-rich compost that’s known for being made from high-quality ingredients such as food scraps, manure, and other organic matter. It’s more finely screened than our regular organic compost and is guaranteed to be weed-seed, manure and pathogen free. And, this is a 100% plant-based and organic product that is Listed by the Organics Materials Review Institute as approved for organic production.

Purple Cow has earned a national reputation for being a consistently high quality, purely organic product. Its ingredients are simply: leaves, sticks and branches – finely screened and guaranteed to be weed seed, manure and pathogen free. Purple Cow also contains humus.  This compost works great for both the lawn and garden.

Purple Cow Classic Compost improves soil structure and porosity, creating a better plant root environment. It allows plants to more efficiently utilize nutrients while reducing nutrient loss through leaching and enables soils to retain nutrients longer. All that equals a greener lawn and a more productive garden.

Benefits:

• Rich in Nutrients: Purple Cow Classic compost provides a balanced mix of macronutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, making it an excellent all-around soil amendment.
• Microbial Boost: It contains a variety of beneficial microorganisms that promote soil health and improve nutrient availability to plants.
• Ideal for Organic Gardens: Since it’s made from natural ingredients, it’s a fantastic option for organic gardening, providing a chemical-free way to enrich your soil.

Best Uses: Purple Cow Classic compost is an excellent all-purpose amendment for both vegetable gardens and lawns. It helps to enrich the soil, improve texture, and promote overall plant health. Use it to top-dress lawns or mix it into garden beds to enhance fertility. We tell customers: “When in doubt, go with the Purple Cow.”

Conclusion

When choosing the best soil amendment for your lawn or vegetable garden, it’s important to consider the specific needs of your plants and soil. Organic compost, peat, composted horse manure, mushroom soil compost, and Purple Cow Classic compost each offer distinct advantages, from regulating alkalinity, improving moisture retention and soil structure to enhancing fertility and providing a diverse array of nutrients.

By incorporating these amendments into your garden care routine, you’re not only improving soil health, but you’re also fostering a more sustainable and productive growing environment.

These composts can be purchased alone or as part of a specialty soil blend. When you want the “Best Mix for the Best Result”, it’s Tim Wallace Soil Mix Supply. Give us a call today. And, be sure to check out our YouTube channel. Just go to You Tube and search “Tim Wallace Soil Mix Supply.”