In article ,
Gary writes:
|
| I want to pot some young conifers, the soil in my area has a fair
| amount of clay in it, so, could I buy some compost and add some washed
| gritty builders sand to give me a loamy consistancy ---- You may well
| answer buy some loamy soil, but I just wondered if the above would be
| OK to use.
|
| If so, what ratio, sand to compost.

No - a disastrous idea. Builders' sand is all wrong. You need sharp
sand (also available from builders' merchants). You want to end up
with a proportion of something like 40% sharp sand, 40% compost and
20% clay.

For example, if your soil is 70% clay, that might mean equal parts of
sand, clay and soil. That would be fine for most conifers. Plants
that need very good drainage would need a different mixture.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.