Grafana Cannot Save Provisioned Dashboard

The use case is that I've constructed a pattern task in a container with a dashboard for use as an preliminary start off line which I'd like customers to have the ability to customize for his or her very own needs. Using the provisioning methodology at once they'll not make and save variations with no duplicating the dashboard first. I'd recommend that even including a 'Save As' operate to a half of the "Cannot save provisioned dashboard" UI could be a primary enchancment to the UX. I copy the exported dashboards to the /etc/grafana/provisioning and once I ship out a curl command with the exported json. I get an error "cannot save provisioned dashboard". I am in search of this function as effectively or a workflow answer that permits builders to bulk import dashboards into Grafana from github with no provisioning in order that they'll work on them after which export. We have been utilizing the supply / export possibility for native growth on developer workstations with an older variation of Grafana. Without this function we're caught manually copy and pasting json to replace developer workspaces which leaves us with potential for work to be lost. We will not revert this alteration however we ought to always introduce an possibility for permitting customers to save lots of over provisioned dashboards. To create the persistent dashboard, you ought to have on the least the Manage Config Maps Rancher RBAC permissions assigned to you within the task or namespace that comprises the Grafana Dashboards.

Grafana Cant Save When Volumes This correlates to the monitoring-dashboard-edit or monitoring-dashboard-admin Kubernetes native RBAC Roles uncovered by the Monitoring chart. In order to stop problems, we have briefly set our customers to solely be granted the Viewer role, however this prevents our customers from creating new short-term dashboards for testing purposes. We'd just like the provisioned dashboards to perpetually stay unchanged until we modify our config files. Of course, I can nonetheless use the API to export dashboards. But since I can't save provisioned dashboards, the export is ineffective because it does not include unsaved changes. Since saving the provisioned dashboards just isn't allowed , we can't use it for automating growth to create dashboards which shall be later deployed. While changing provisioned dashboards by importing was allowed in 5.0.x model of grafana it isn't allowed in newer versions. Since we wish to have the whole lot automated, we have a script that exports all dashboards applying the API. With provisioned dashboards being readonly now (#10883), this strategy not works. We need to manually copy and paste the dashboard JSON from the UI so we will commit it. Doing stuff manually in an automatic world is IMHO an anti-pattern. While I recognize the rationale behind #10883 with regards to database vs. filesystem, there could nonetheless be a technique to export modified provisioned dashboards by way of API.

Saving edits in UI on provisioned dashboards can be a nice-to-have. This annotation can be added by default inside the brand new monitoring chart launched by Rancher v2.5.8, however nonetheless should be manually utilized for customers of earlier Rancher versions. To enable the Grafana dashboard to persist after the Grafana occasion restarts, add the dashboard configuration JSON right into a ConfigMap. ConfigMaps additionally enable the dashboards to be deployed with a GitOps or CD centered approach. This enables the dashboard to be put underneath mannequin control. By default, Grafana is configured to observe all ConfigMaps with the grafana_dashboard label inside the cattle-dashboards namespace. The dialog telling you that you just can't save over a provisioned dashboard appears. I am not infront of my laptop computer as of now so I cant share the precise files. However, the folders dashboards and provisioning include dashboard json statistics and two datasources in a provisioning.yml file. Starting grafana in growth mode and see this error message every time provisioning running. To create a persistent dashboard, you have to to get the JSON mannequin of the dashboard you wish to persist. To see the hyperlinks to the exterior monitoring UIs, such as Grafana dashboards, you have to no less than a project-member role.

But I agree, perhaps an choice in provisioning to "allow UI save" is value contemplating if that's what many customers want. I can replace the dashboard with /api/dashboards/db endpoint however cannot reserve it by means of the gui. How about with the ability to edit the dashboard in a "namespace" and as soon as the editor is proud of the change there's a "save/commit" step. Sign up for a free GitHub account to open a crisis and make contact with its maintainers and the community. So, yes, in a approach the official documentation-provided dashboards should not working. I go assess my dashboards, they're present, But as soon as I click, they load empty. Users with Editor position are capable of save over Provisioned dashboard. Just save as a draft and have one factor ballot these drafts and export it by means of the API and apply anything promotion-/provision-process we might like exterior of Grafana. We test to make use of grafana with docker container for equally improvement and deployment. I even have the identical problem.Wish that there's an choice to permit UI save by admin user. You can nonetheless use your workflow of adjusting it UI and backing it up in git however it's important to make use of API to export & import. Systemctl restart grafana-server does not appear to be working with my instance.

You have to have the cluster-admin ClusterRole permission. Dashboards which are continued employing ConfigMaps can't be deleted or edited from the Grafana UI. The ameliorations are one way or the other continued to Grafana's DB, and the ameliorations stay on the dashboard, even after refreshing. Click the "Save dashboard" button on the house dashboard to view the issue.

How To Concat Two Columns In Sql Oracle

SQL CONCATENATE String concatenation means to append one string to the end of another string. SQL allows us to concatenate strings but the syntax varies according to which database system you are using. Concatenation can be used to join strings from different sources including column values, literal strings, the output from user-defined functions or scalar sub-queries, etc. ' UNION SELECT username || '~' || password FROM users-- This uses the double-pipe sequence || which is a string concatenation operator on Oracle. The injected query concatenates together the values of the username and password fields, separated by the ~ character. All queries combined using a UNION, INTERSECT or EXCEPT operator must have an equal number of expressions in their target lists.

Again, the application might actually return this error message, or might just return a generic error or no results. When the number of nulls matches the number of columns, the database returns an additional row in the result set, containing null values in each column. The effect on the resulting HTTP response depends on the application's code. If you are lucky, you will see some additional content within the response, such as an extra row on an HTML table.

Otherwise, the null values might trigger a different error, such as a NullPointerException. Worst case, the response might be indistinguishable from that which is caused by an incorrect number of nulls, making this method of determining the column count ineffective. Prior to SQL Server 2012 concatenation was accomplished by using the plus (+) sign to concatenate fields together of various data types (varchar, char, int, numeric, etc.). The limitation of this method is if any of the fields you are concatenating are NULL, the final string value is NULL. In SQL Server 2012 and later there is theCONCAT() function that replaces NULL with an empty string.

Take a look at this tip to see how this new function works and how it can be beneficial in your code. It's important to ensure that we are combining like fields that are strings otherwise we may produce an error. Each database has it's own list of compatible data types when trying to combine columns together.

We can look at some practical examples to show us how to write out our SQL queries. Often ends up for multiple values where clause, one column names is, then i learned it. Reload the and for multiple in clause oracle is a not. Vs dynamic sql with multiple values in where oracle database, but they all the query then how to query. Northwind is a sample database in SQL Server 2000 default installations. Prior to SQL Server 2012 concatenation was accomplished by using the plus (+) sign to concatenate fields together.

The limitation of this method is if any of the fields you are concatenating are NULL, the entire result is NULL. In SQL Server 2012 and later there is the CONCAT() function that replaces NULL with an empty string. Specify Multiple Search Conditions for Multiple Columns, In the Filter column for the second data column, specify the second condition. The Query and View Designer creates a WHERE clause that where clause to search values from multiple column in sql server. Ask Question Asked 6 years, I have the sql server table with 51 columns like below.

The CONCAT function in SQL is a String function, which is used to merge two or more strings. The Concat service converts the Null values to an Empty string when we display the result. This function is used to concatenate two strings to make a single string. The operator is used to link character strings and column string. The next set of code is using the newCONCAT() function that is in SQL Server 2012 and later versions with aSELECT statement. It replaces NULL values with an empty string of type VARCHAR.

I need to produce mailing labels from my Microsoft SQL Server database so I am using the + sign to concatenate the first, middle, and last names together. Check out this tutorial to learn more about concatenating data in SQL Server with T-SQL string concatenation. We use various data types in SQL Server to define data in a particular column appropriately. We might have requirements to concatenate data from multiple columns into a string. For example, in an Employee table, we might have first, middle and last name of an employee in different columns. Using SQL CONCAT Function To Concatenate Two or More Strings, function returns a string which is the combination of the input strings.

Oracle concatenation of columns with comma How can I combine multiple rows into a comma-delimited list in Oracle? The concatenation operator is a binary operator, whose syntax is shown in the general diagram for an SQL Expression. You can use the concatenation operator ( || ) to concatenate two expressions that evaluate to character data types or to numeric data types.

How To Merge Two Columns In Sql Oracle In this tutorial, you have learned how to use the Oracle CONCAT() function to concatenate two strings. You also learned how to use the concatenation operator (||) that concatenates three or more strings. Conversion failed when converting the varchar value 'a' to data type int.

In Postgresql, this Concat function is also used to concatenate array elements using supplied delimiter and optional null string. Arrays give columns of a table to be specified as variable-length multidimensional arrays. These are created of any built-in or user-defined base type, enum type, or composite type.

When we concatenate two or more strings into one we generally use the string concatenation operator as the below queries. In the first query, we will concatenate two strings and in another query, we will concatenate one string with NULL. In this tutorial, you have learned how to use the SQLite concatenation operator (||) to concatenate two strings into a single string. We can use SQL ISNULL function with + operator to replace NULL values with a space or any specific value. Execute the following query and we can still use SQL Plus (+) operator to concatenate string for us.

Let's look at another example of SQL Server Concatenate values with string as well as numeric values. As you can see in the screen shot below the MailingName is NULL for any row that has NULL for any one of the name columns. The only rows that have MailingName filled in have a value for all the title, firstname, middlename, and lastname columns. If we concatenate string using the plus( +) operator, we need to use SQL CONVERT function to convert data types. In the previous section, we explored that if we want to concatenate string using + operator and any of string has a NULL value, and we get the output as NULL. We use SQL ISNULL function to replace NULL values in the string.

We need to use SQL ISNULL with each column containing NULL values. If we have a large number of the column that may have NULL values, it becomes complex to write such code. Execute the following query and we can still use SQL Plus(+) operator to concatenate string for us.

We can combine multiple columns together into one in SQL using concatenation. Many databases have their own versions of combining columns. As a result, this makes it difficult to use one universal SQL function. It is usually found in a WHERE clause, immediately after a comparison operator. If a subquery can return multiple columns and exactly one row, it is known as a row subquery.

Finally, if a subquery can return multiple columns and multiple rows, it is known as a table subquery. Postgresql has an aggregate function ARRAY_AGG() which acquires a set of values and returns an array in which every value in the set is allocated to an element of the array. It is a built-in function so we don't need to define it on our own. Let's check the below query for concatenating rows into an array. We can also concatenate strings with integers in Postgresql.

In the below example the integer to a string is attached to the rest. Also, we need to carefully add spaces to make the string more readable. In Postgresql, the CONCAT function gives us the CONCAT_WS function that concatenates strings into one separated by a particular separator. The CONCAT_WS function is also variadic and ignores NULL values.

This functions generally you can use when you have to show multiple columns values within a single string. You can specify your own separator values like – space, comma, dash, etc in the function. Suppose we want the single quote as well in the SQL Server Concatenate. In SQL Server, once we combine strings using SQL Plus(+) operator, it concatenates values inside single quotes. In the following query, we can see we specified two single quotes to display a single quote in the output. Besides using the CONCAT function, you can use the concatenation operator e.g., in Oracle and PostgreSQL you can use the || operator to concatenate two or more strings.

For the most part combining fields is straight-forward and shouldn't cause much trouble. The most common issues will be using the wrong operator in the wrong database or using incompatible data types when combining columns. In Oracle, you can use the ALTER TABLE command to add columns to a table after it's created. The command also allows you to add multiple columns in the one statement. The way to do this is to enclose all of the columns in brackets and separate the columns by a comma.

Since NULL is convertible to every commonly used data type, using NULL maximizes the chance that the payload will succeed when the column count is correct. This function accepts a list of arguments that require to be convertible to a string. A string can be of any data type char, varchar, or text. Every array element as an argument is treated by this function. As you see, unlike the string concatenation operator ||, the CONCAT function ignores the NULL arguments. The CONCAT function concatenates two expressions and returns the resulting expression.

To concatenate more than two expressions, use nested CONCAT functions. The concatenation operator (||) between two expressions produces the same results as the CONCAT function. This function is used to concatenate multiple columns or strings into a single one. The Oracle CONCAT function can only take two strings so the above example would not be possible as there are three strings to be joined (FirstName, ' ' and LastName).

To achieve this in Oracle we would need to use the || operator which is equivalent to the + string concatenation operator in SQL Server / Access. SQL CONCAT function implicitly converts arguments to string types before concatenation. We can use SQL CONVERT function as well without converting the appropriate data type. There are several things to keep in my when using concatenation to combine multiple columns in SQL. As an example, MySQL can actually support the double pipe operator, but it must be enabled. Since this is the case, it's easier to just use the already enabled concatenation features.

However, we may want to enable this feature if we're migrating substantial code that already uses the || operation. Oracle String concatenation allows you to append one string to the end of another string. To display the contents of two columns or more under the name of a single column, you can use the double pipe concatenation operator (||). The string that is returned is the same data type as string1, which can be any of CHAR, VARCHAR2, NCHAR, NVARCHAR2, CLOB or NCLOB.

However, if you're converting two different data types, the type returned is one that results in a "lossless" conversion. In other words, it keeps the LOB or the Unicode data type if one exists. However, this may not continue to be true in future versions of Oracle Database. To concatenate an expression that might be null, use the NVL function to explicitly convert the expression to a zero-length string. The result of concatenating two character strings is another character string.

If both character strings are of datatype CHAR, the result has datatype CHAR and is limited to 2000 characters. If either string is of datatype VARCHAR2, the result has datatype VARCHAR2 and is limited to 4000 characters. If either argument is a CLOB, the result is a temporary CLOB. Trailing blanks in character strings are preserved by concatenation, regardless of the datatypes of the string or CLOB. Noted that the Oracle CONCAT() function concatenates two strings only. If you want to concatenate more than two strings, you need to apply the CONCAT() function multiple times or use the concatenation operator (||).

Matt contributed this handy SQL techniques to pivot one row of several columns into a single column with several row, using the Oracle Cross join syntax. Matt notes that the Cross join "has other uses in conjunction with a WHERE clause to create triangular result sets for rolling totals etc ". The reason for performing an SQL injection UNION attack is to be able to retrieve the results from an injected query. You can concatenate rows into single string using COALESCE method. This COALESCE method can be used in SQL Server version 2008 and higher. All you have to do is, declare a varchar variable and inside the coalesce, concat the variable with comma and the column, then assign the COALESCE to the variable.

In Postgresql, we can also concatenate two or more rows into one field. We have created a table candidate and we will implement the above query in the candidate table. Let's check the query below in which we will concat the name and the status.

You have two columns – firstname, lastname within your DataBase Table you want to show both the columns values in a single string form. In this case, you can use MySQL functions to combine the values of the columns. In SQL Server 2012 and later there is the CONCAT () function that replaces NULL with an empty string. In the following query, we want to concatenate two strings.

In this example, data type of first string is Text while another data type is a date. The following query, concatenate string and gives output as a single string. We specified multiple single quotes between each word to print space in between each word. In this tutorial, you have learned how to use the SQL CONCAT function to concatenate two or more strings into a single string.

In this tutorial, you will learn various ways to concatenate two or more strings into a single string using MySQL CONCAT and CONCAT_WS functions. The parameters are quite simple compared to other functions that we've looked at so far. Both parameters are mandatory and are both string data types. This example creates a table with both CHAR and VARCHAR2 columns, inserts values both with and without trailing blanks, and then selects these values and concatenates them. Note that for both CHAR and VARCHAR2 columns, the trailing blanks are preserved. The data type of the result string depends on the data types of the two arguments.

Why Is My Potting Soil So Hard

Watering Can – This is a must-have tool when you're growing plants in pots or grow bags. It helps to water the potting soil without splashing on the foliage. The Kensington Watering Can is stylish, strong, and can provide precision when watering potted plants. As a commenter noted below, this process will also kill beneficial soil microbes. Most potting soils do not have intentionally added beneficial soil microbes, but some more speciality ones do. Adding beneficial microbes back to your soil is easy.

Hard-packed clay soils and even garden soils can become crusted and resist wetting, letting water run off instead of absorbing it. To re-wet, repeatedly sprinkle the surface lightly, making sure there is no run off. Covering the surface with a mulch such as straw, leaves, wood chips, or compost will also help. Eventually the soil will become moist enough to break up.

I used two bags before the rain started and mixed them into the good soil in my yard where I was building a rose bed. Those areas of the bed do not produce the healthiest roses, but the bad soil is completely mixed with the good soil. I have to add a lot of other good stuff every year to counteract the bad soil.

I never use anything purchased anymore in garden beds, although I do use the expensive potting mixes in outdoor containers. But, I figure if my plants can't grow in 100% home-made compost then I guess they're just gonna have to die. Potting mixes often include aerating materials such as coconut coir, perlite, vermiculite, or peat moss.

These materials not only create air pockets throughout your plant's soil, but they can retain water as well. For many plants, perlite, etc. creates the perfect conditions the houseplant needs to thrive. Many potting soils become hydrophobic—tending to repel water—when they dry out, and are difficult to re-wet. Gardeners may see water draining out the bottom of a pot and assume that means that the soil is saturated. Small seedlings from nurseries are particularly prone to this, especially if they have become rootbound. It's also important to note that topsoil also has a different mix of nutrients then the bag of potting soil you should be using.

During the summer, hard-packed clay soils, soils that were burned and some crusted garden soils can resist wetting, allowing water run-off instead of absorbing it. To re-wet, repeatedly sprinkle the surface lightly, making sure there's no run-off. You may also need to break up the surface of the soil if it's hydrophobic due to exposure to fire.

Your potting soil gets hard because it did not get the required moisture for a long period of time. This makes the potting soil hydrophobic and it does not absorb moisture. Most potting soils contain peat moss that tends to cause this problem.

I use an old knitting needle to 'fluff' the top of the potting soil every so often. I get fungus gnats from pots sometimes but don't want pesticides inside. Letting the surface dry completely before watering helps , or covering the surface with fine sand will keep their numbers in check.

Not sure how sand would react with the crunchy soil. That's why I don't recommend you usegarden soil as potting soil. You want to buy potting soil that is made specifically for growing potted plants. One popular component of commercial potting soils, peat moss, decomposes quickly.

This makes the soil dense and difficult for roots to penetrate, and affects its ability to drain and hold water. If your old potting soil looks and feels dense and compacted, it may be suffering from decomposed peat moss. When it's dead, it's probably not absorbing water, and it may not do much for your soil aeration either.

Vermiculite pellets and coconut coir chunks can be washed right out of the pot's drainage holes with repeated waterings. You might do more than make contact with your plant's roots during aeration, but break a root or two. A plant that's in a healthy environment can regrow roots, but one that's living in compacted soil cannot, at least not easily. Obviously, you can't stop watering your plant, so the above scenario is all but inevitable. You probably can't tell when your potting mix is more dirt than perlite, but your houseplant will certainly notice the difference. I also discourage you from using soil from your backyard, as convenient as that might sound.

Backyard soil is rarely pure soil at all and will also include silt and clay. It too is heavy and won't benefit your houseplants since it's not going to have the nutrients your potted plants need to be healthy and thrive. Soaking potting soil beforehand exposes it to several problems such as breaking down, becoming compact, and makes it a potential carrier of root diseases.

While a wet sandy texture is good for potting soils, an extra addition of actual sand is not. This will only deteriorate the quality of soil because often people use it as a cheap filler. They are often acquired by gardeners due to their great ability to retain moisture. A common ingredient for them is peat which is known to be great for nourishing plants.

To aid you more about soil differences as compared to potting soil. Check my recent article on the differences between potting soil, topsoil and garden soil. It recounts the uses, advantages of each as well as the main ingredients for these soils. If your potted plants are out in the garden where there is a lot of heat, it will cause the soil to dry out and turn hard. You are using the right potting soil to grow your container plant but after some time the soil has turned hard.

And now your plant is not getting the required moisture as the soil is not absorbing the water. I cultivate and spray native soil microbes on my garden plants, both in the soil and in containers, following the JADAM method. It's very simple – you can find instructions for making JADAM Microbe Solution online. If fermenting leaf mould soil isn't your idea of a good time, Organic REV is a product you can buy and use to add beneficial microbes. There are other products available, too, but I have personal experience with both of those.

Your plants are fortunate you actually find and purchase potting soil with beneficial microbes! Most commercially produced soil does not have added beneficial microbes. Yes, sunlight would kill beneficial microbes, too. I should include that information in this post and will update it in the future to reflect this.

Why Is My Dirt So Hard Potting soil is of the utmost importance when it comes to gardening and planting, especially if you're creating a container garden or using raised beds. Whether indoors or outdoors, you need excellent quality potting soil to ensure your plants get the best nurturing possible. I'm a new gardener too and have see this happen when trying out different soils in pots or friends and family give me a new plant.

Generally, they do just fine but you can add to mulch or compost to the top which will hold in some moisture and break it up. Now it's four days later and the plants look extremely green and healthy as I've been watering lightly every day (not sure if I'm supposed to, but it's been ok so far). The soil also looks really compact and looks like it may be tough for roots to grow. Set the pot in a shallow container of water , allowing the soil to slowly absorb the water. It may take an hour or more to thoroughly re-wet the soil.

Be careful not to leave pots soaking in standing water continuously. Check them after an hour or two and remove them when they are hydrated. I like Pro-Mix and the label said it contained a wetting agent, but I find it very hard to moisten initially. I always moisten well in another container first, keep mixing and adding water until evenly moist. Then I fill the planting container with the moistened mix, plant, and water again and allow to drain. Make sure there are adequate drainage holes and if necessary elevate a little from the ground with pot feet or something similar .

Commercially available potting "soils" will be peat moss, finely ground bark, or finely ground coir, I have never seen a potting "soil" sold that was made from clay. These potting "soils" can dry out, once properly wet, and repel water and peat moss is well noted for being hydrophobic. Ft. bags of Metro-mix 500 potting mix this year for a portion of my contatiner garden. I am shocked at how fast those plants are growing compared to the others.

The plants that are in each pot are not the same, so I can't say for sure that it's the metro mix, but the pots with the metro-mix are all dong great. The other pots are doing just like every other year, which is just OK. You were poking a pair of chopsticks into your plant's soil and you hit something hard. Now you're worried that instead of a clump of compacted soil that it was the plant's roots you struck. When you go to replenish your indoor plant with fertilizer, what do you think will happen? As you probably guessed, the compacted soil will limit the progress of the nutrients.

Some might get through, although it in what quantities, it's impossible to say. Other nutrients can get trapped at the top of the soil far from the plant's roots. You can prevent potting soil from going hard with minimal effort by using a gardening technique known as mulching. This eliminates the need to change the entire potting soil. For mulching, place some mulch or wood chips and mulch to the soil's surface, and this will aid in retaining its moisture. A good layer of mulch in your potted plant, just above the soil, creates a microenvironment that is high in humidity and allows for easy growth for your plants.

There are a lot of plant pots that are not meant to simply have soil in them alone. Different plants require different potting mix to produce healthy growth. Yes, Jeannie, even the bags of potting soils and garden soils have labels. A soil-less potting mix will be primarily peat moss, and an assortment of coarse amendments . Many companies also package their own garden SOILS, which prove to be entirely unsuitable for use in containers. Last year, I bought a bag of potting soil, filled a container, planted a canna bulb and watered it.

The first clue that there was a problem was that the water pooled on top of the soil and was absorbed very slowly. Then, as the soil dried, I noticed it was hard like cement . In fact, not even a weed emerged during the entire summer. Now, you're probably wondering, what about your plant's drainage holes? The drainage holes are still working, but the water isn't getting to the holes since it's stuck within the compacted soil.

You might as well not have the drainage holes at all. In other words, it's a classic case of underwatering, right? You're watering your plant the right amount, but the compacted soil is stopping the water from reaching the plant's roots. This complicates matters for new indoor gardeners considerably. Getting the hang of when to water your houseplant is not easy when you're a green indoor gardener. I always say that instead of using a set schedule, you should put a clean finger into the soil to feel how moist it is.

Dry soil necessitates watering while moist soil does not. Organic matter in the soil helps to soak up and hold moisture. Set the pot in a shallow container of water, allowing the soil to absorb the water slowly. Be careful not to leave pots soaking in standing water for more than a couple of hours. After an hour take the pot out of the tub and place it in a shallow container filled with water. The potting soil will absorb the moisture from the drainage holes at the bottom.

The mulch is organic material such as wood chips, grass clippings, hay, or dried leaves. This layer ensures the moisture stays in the potting soil longer. It also helps regulate the temperature of the potting soil. A couple weeks ago I repotted some houseplants and left about 4 cups of soil sitting in a container. It has now dried out and I was wondering if the microbes could be revived with moisture or if it should be discarded or blended with fresh mix. Potting soil is perfectly fine to use as long as it doesn't show any of these signs of bad potting soil.

If you're new to gardening, it may be hard for you to judge whether or not your potting soil is healthy and safe to use. Potting soils often contains peat moss which is valued because it decomposes slowly, is lightweight, and retains water. Paradoxically though, when peat moss dries out it is very difficult to re-wet.

This is a common part of having potted plants anywhere the wind blows, as wind is usually lower in humidity which sucks up any moisture that may be in the soil. I alway add a bit of lava sand and compost from my compost pile to the potting soil/mix. I also put mulch on top to keep it from drying out quickly. These include using chopsticks, adding perlite or other aerating materials, or even nourishing your plant's soil with vermicompost . Also, consider fertilizers and moisturizers to boost your potting soil.

The methods you can use to loosen the hard potting soil depend on whether the potting soil is just placed in a bag or you are growing plants in it. Months ago I bought some soil for my tomatoes and peppers. I mixed some soil together and repotted my seedings …etc. The next days I noticed the soil had such a strong smell.