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How to create the perfect soil for annual flowers
Jeff Layman wrote:
Stuart Noble wrote: 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? It doesn't sound very long, but they are probably erring on the side of caution. I would be most surprised if you didn't get a good display of annuals without additional feeding. Remember too that hoof and horn meal is effectively a "slow-release" fertiliser, as it takes time to break down in the soil. Salts like Potassium sulphate are very soluble in water and will get quickly washed out of sandy soil. Soils containing clay and humus hang on to soluble material much better. I would agree with you that topsoil and loam are pretty much the same thing. Thanks. Now I know what the basic ingredients are I can hopefully just add what I think I'm short of :-) |
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