Soil Treatment

marywelbyuk · November 2016

My front garden has been covered with red chippings for many years but I am now creating a border. The I have dug the area in question, the soil breaks up reasonable well but is sticky and has slight signs of clay and I have some good soil (from under a lawn in the back garden) to top it off with a covering of about 4". I am hoping for suggestions regarding treatments for the soil before planting. I had thought of Grow More but don't know if that would be right. I don't want to use manure as planting will be mixed and not all will cope with manure. Any advice would be very helpful.

Dovefromabove · November 2016

Hello

If your soil contains clay I would incorporate as much organic matter as possible, well rotted manure/good home made compost/leaf mould. It will be broken down and incorporated into the soil and I'm sure that would be fine for your border plants. In the spring I would dress the bed with Fish, Blood and Bone at the rate given on the pack. - it's a slow release organic general fertiliser whereas Growmore is an artificial fertiliser and is now believed to be bad for the worms and invertebrates that contribute to a healthy soil.

I hope that helps.

marywelbyuk · November 2016

Thanks dovefromabove

Thanks so much for your advice which is really helpful. I can easily get well rotted horse manure so will get that done without delay then treat with fish blood and bone in spring before I start the planting. Thanks for mentioning about the worms I have really annoyed my husband by keep stopping work to save worms so must continue to look after them!

Thank you

Last edited: 28 November 2016 00:44:36

Soil Treatment

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