By Stan Brown, Alameda Wholesale Nursery
In the 1940’s and 1950’s nursery potting soil was not available commercially. Nurseries had to make their own, most of which were composed of top soil (preferably sandy loam), mixed with our native peat moss (back then it was really a nice product — in later years it became one step closer to coal).
There were nice peat moss bogs on top of Loveland Pass, South of Fairplay, and others in South Park. Sawdust was also used, preferably if you could let it set a year to compost. Weeds from the top soil were an issue.
Potting soil commercially available today generally consist of compost, Canadian Peat moss, composted bark fine and pumice
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