a color story: white perlites in soil

I started a long overdue gardening project. The uncared soil filled with red ants, compact rough soils, and unattractive weeds. The space looked like a swamp rather than a designated garden bed.  

First, I dug around it to provide an illusion of a border; this was also referred to as edging. Then, I wanted to get rid of the weeds. Usually, I would hand dig them out but there were too many to consider the option. Instead, I used a shovel and flipped the top layer over. I would cut the top layers into blocks and continue downsizing the blocks into soil. This process was similar to fine dicing a shallot. A daily task that I was quite familiar with. The garden site's soil looked workable. 

When I added white elements called perlite to the site, I saw the site turn into a garden bed.  

I wondered why? 

Two years ago, I purchased my first bag of soil. I knew going in that I couldn't go back; soil was the fundamentals to horticulture. My journey started at Sheridan Nursery and witnessed local gardeners purchasing "3 in 1". The colorful blue and green designed bag contained manure, peat, and loam. I couldn't believe that poop could be so popular. If it wasn't for the crowd, I wouldn't haven't considered purchasing such a product. I used it at a small garden bed and spread the unfamiliar product around with my hands. The textures felt surreal. There was a tenderness that felt familiar and unfamiliar; a fine balance of fluffy, sandy and binding.  I was hooked.

I explored other bags of soil from other nurseries, grocery stores and etc. I compared the soil from my first 3 in 1. The only close thing to it were the premium potting mixes that were found in black sealable bags. These contained the white perlites.

One unusual evening, I chatted with my brother-in-law about soil and discovered that he had perlite. He enjoyed the art of coffee and dabbled into soil-mixing. From his experiences, he said it wasn't worth it to make the soil. There were too many variables involved to getting it right. He shared that many of his experiments didn't go as planned. He offered to give me his leftover inventory. 

When I received the perlite, I wasn't expecting a "garbage bag" size full of the white elements. It was light for the volume it took up. Doing my research, I applied it at the bottom of the holes I dug up for the incoming hosta plants (a perennial favorite for its low maintenance). The perlites would help with the hosta's root development since the soil would be less compact. Even after implementing 15 hostas into the site, there was perlite left over. I instinctively spread the rest of the perlite all over the site. A magical thing happened. It looked like a garden bed. The perlite sold the illusion that it was premium soil. It sprinkled itself to the soil and sold my eyes that the garden bed was filled with it. Not entirely false. 

Since I sold myself that story, it bothered me when I saw clumps of perlite in an area. There was some uncared block-size soil still intact which caused the perlites to group up. I got the shovel and hacked away at that piece. Gradually, both the perlite and the uncared soil transformed into premium soil. I continued this process until the blocks on the garden bed disappeared. 

Then, I noticed that the perlite looked too apparent. So, I added topsoil from the compost pile (filled with grass clippings, fall leaves and pinecones). I don't know why I did this. It felt right. The topsoil wasn't applied on the under-developed hostas. So, you could only see the perlite where the hosta plants were. 

Then.. I realized...

Was I making my own premium soil?  uncared compact soil + perlite + compost

How far of the rabbit hole did I go? Is there an end to this garden bed transformation? Why am I hiding the perlite?

I returned to the "finished" garden bed. I realized that I didn't spend a single cent. Turning over the uncared soil. Chopping the blocks into smaller pieces. Adding perlite. Digging up holes. Add perlite. Importing divided hostas to new areas. Top soil for undesirable growth. 

Then, I noticed that I used compost as topsoil. I should probably use mulch as the final top layer. I only wanted the hostas to grow in the garden bed. .