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How can I make ericaceous compost more solid?
snowathlete
Posts: 138
I've got some acid loving plants in my garden and generally they are happy. I use ericaceous compost but on wide borders if you step on it you leave a huge imprint because it is so spongy and soft. Also it retains water perhaps too well and I'm worried the ground might be getting a bit toI damp in winter.
How can I harden the ground up in these beds?
0
Posts
Ericaceous compost is usually very high in peat. Peat holds water you simply can't harden it up. If you mix it thoroughly with garden soil you shouldn't have a problem.
Problems will arise if you put too much compost in. Then it will be as you have described. You only need to put pure compost into containers not in the ground. Anyway it's wasteful as the subsoil probably won't have a high acid content anyway. Your'e better off feeding acid lovers with suitable feeds and top dressing with the compost.
From your description I think you've over done the compost.
Not sure I could have done anything else though as the natural garden soil I have is limestone soil, lots of calcium in it and would kill the plants if I included it in the mix. any ideas?
I'd have to agree here, your'e better off working with your soil than against it. It saves money and heartache in the long run. Pot displays can be more impressive than border displays plus it adds flexability.
Thanks guys but I'm not looking to have pot plants and I like my azaleas and rhododendrons and those are what I've got already. It would cost too much money and energy to change that at this stage. my garden has to be low maintenance now due to ill health. I replaced a lot of the soil where they are when I moved in here seven years ago (not the whole garden, just two parts - I'll try to add some photos later). what I've done works fine with no work required, apart from these minor issues.
A friend is helping me finish making it low maintenance by putting stones on top to keep the beds from getting any weeds, so now is the time to make these improvements if I can before they are all on (some parts already finished a while back) after which time it would be more difficult to do.
I think I'd add topsoil and FYM to encourage worm activity over the winter. If it's just laid on top, they will do the job for you over winter, it's probably the only solution.
Here are the photo. Everything in the first photo is an ericaceous compost bed. The right of the second photo and the left of hte third are normal soil. Then the right of the third photo up to the wall is where my friend is finishing replacing the soil on this bed. As you can see, I havent yet put anything much in the front of the beds, so want to make any improvements before I do, making it more tricky to adjust after that point.
Something I am considering is moving the acid loving plants at the top right of the garden down into the space available at the bottom of the garden, where the soil has already been replaced fairly deep. That would mean only having one ericaceous bed in the more shaded area of the garen and the other half could returned to native soil.