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Building up borders

MeomyeMeomye Posts: 949
in Problem solving
I would like to replenish some of the soil in my borders but i am not sure what to do it with. Should i use topsoil or some sort of potting compost? I just need to 'top them up'  a bit because when weeding i am obviously losing some of the soil. Thank you

Posts

  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    I think it depends on the nature of your soil and what you are growing is the unhelpful answer, but any organic matter is all to the good. If it is simply to top up and not specifically amend or enrich I would probably go for the cheapest mpc.

    I top my perennial borders up with a mulch of ericaceous compost annually, because I have heavy, very alkaline clay soil, plus it is a fairly light pine-based compost that doesn’t affect perennials that don’t like a too-rich soil. I don’t know if it’s simply down to the mulch, or whether the acid ph, but it works really well as a perennial weed suppressant, so I only have to pull out self-seeded weeds on the surface. My veg beds get topped up with a mix of manure, home-made compost, leaf mould or whatever I can lay my hands on. 
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • SmudgeriiSmudgerii Posts: 185
    You could add used coffee grounds.  Add a thin layer every couple of weeks  and let the worms do the rest.

    starbucks give me Kg’s of the stuff every week
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    I would use a mix of bagged Topsoil with cheap MPC, possibly with added Hort.Grit and/or Hort.Sand , depending on your existing soil type. I find it's too expensive to only use Topsoil which only seems to come in smaller bags. Wellrotted manure or mushroom compost could also be added to the mix and is fairly cheap was well.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    I agree with Rik - get some bagged composted manure from a garden centre and use that.  The stuff in question is usually called 'farm yard manure', comes in 50l bags and has already been commercially composted so is free of weed seeds.  It can be used immediately.  Topping-up with a bit of manure will actually feed the soil ecosystem itself so everything including your plants will benefit, whereas MPC will only provide a bit of plant food which will be gone in just a few weeks.
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
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