In article ,
says...

I think you are looking for something that says 'soil conditioner' on the
bag, rather than 'potting compost'. I think I've even seen spend mushroom
compost in some garden centres.

Having said that, your garden won't care - the idea is just to bump up the
organic matter a bit and stick on a layer of something to make life a bit
harder for the weed seedlings, so almost anything in the 'compost' line
will do the job.

If the garden is that small, steer away from the bags of manure, because
that does pong for several days, and will also be a bit strong applied to a
small area. You can get smaller pots of pelleted manure - many plants will
really appreciate a sprinkling of that with the mulch, but if in doubt,
post your plants here and then we can tell you if they are hungry feeders
or not.

Victoria


Thanks Victoria! Hehe I did actually buy several bags of manure when we
were getting it ready for planting. When we inherited the garden it had
a shed on slabs across the entire lower third, concrete on the upper
third, and an impacted lawn that only grew in patches for the middle
bit.

When we pulled down the shed and lifted the slabs, there was loads of
sand and grit everywhere, with clay several inches down. So where we
wanted to plant we dug in a load of bagged farmyard manure, as it seemed
the quickest way to get some nutrition and fibre into the soil. The
plants seem to be doing ok, just coming into their first full year, but
my goodness it whiffed! )-:

Can I fill my empty fern-bed-to-be with soil conditioner, or isn't that
enough on its own?

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