Jeff Layman wrote:
Stuart Noble wrote:
Ornata wrote:
On 17 Mar, 09:22, "Jeff Layman" wrote:
Stuart Noble wrote:
Having a small garden with sandy/stony soil, I've decided to start
from scratch on a couple of raised beds by ditching the existing
soil and replacing it with something better. As this is a small
project, I don't care about the cost of materials but they need to
be available from the garden centre in 25kg bags.
Am I right in thinking that general purpose compost and sharp sand
should form the bulk? Things seem to grow well enough in that
medium but for how long? As a compost bin isn't practical for me,
can I buy the equivalent as a commercial product? Maybe a
Phostrogen type liquid feed would be as good?
Any advice appreciated
As you have sandy/stony soil, I do not understand why you need to
buy sharp sand to make up your growing medium. Why not get twice
as much decent compost or manure, and mix your current garden soil
with that? If you don't have enough composted material in your soil,
you'll be
forever watering if we have a dry summer.

--
Jeff
(cut "thetape" to reply)
Maybe I have the wrong impression of the conditions in your garden..
but sandy/stony soil sounds the perfect growing medium for lots of
annuals - most don't need a rich soil. I'd just keep adding plenty
of organic matter to the existing soil.
As I explained, for practical reasons I am limited to what I can buy
from a garden centre, so what do I buy that will do the same as
"adding organic matter"?

Composted bark, other composted matter, John Innes 3. Any general purpose
compost.

Thanks for replying
It looks as though the latter consists of:

7 Loam
3 Peat
2 Sand


to which

0.6kg ground limestone
3.6kg hoof and horn meal
3.6kg superphosphate
1.8kg potassium sulphate

is added per cubic metre

Just because you want to grow annuals it doesn't mean that you have to go
with poor soil. If you use rich soil the annuals will still grow well, and
you won't have to add fertilisers for a year or two.

It also says, "nutrients are typically sufficient for 1-2 months of
growing, after which time additional proprietary feed should be given".
Doesn't sound very long does it? I imagine "topsoil" and "loam" are
pretty much the same thing?