Soil, Manure and Garden Compost - Which to Use & How
Soil – the stuff we should all have beneath our feet unless we are living in a high-rise. The typical garden soil in our region is a heavy clay loam, although there are areas with exception. Clay loams are nutrient rich due to the ability of the clay particles to hold on to useful nutrients. Unfortunately clay also has it’s down sides
If compacted it can drain poorly and be very wet in winter whilst dry rock hard in summer. The best way to improve clay soils is to add manure or garden compost along with grit of sharp sand, something we do on every Planting Project or Full Garden Transformation. It is essential to have soil in ‘good-order’ when we plant the garden, to ensure that the plants have everything they need to survive and thrive. When we’ve incorporated raised beds / planters into out projects, we source good quality top-soil and mix this with compost. The topsoil needs to be weed free and screened to remove any large unwanted materials.
Manure & Garden compost
The most useful product for the garden for incorporating into soil, well rotted 2-3 year old manure or homemade garden compost is something you can never have too much of. Whether you’ve a poorly drained clay or a free draining sandy soil, manure/garden compost will help provide an open structure, to aid drainage in heavy ground whilst giving a water retentive element to dry soils. It also adds nutrition and bulk to the soil also helping container grown plants established once planted. Making your own garden compost requires space and time. We often install compost bins in to our projects so that the clients can start to make their own ‘black gold’ to use to mulch or dig into the soil in years to come. Garden centres sell sealed bags of manure or soil improver which is an instant option until the home made compost is ready. Our landscaping teams add manure or compost to all of the planting areas we will be planting into to enrich the soil and loosen any heavy ground.
Our natural soil is the ideal growing medium for plants. But often it can benefit from the incorporation of Manure or Garden Compost. If you're looking for a compost for filling pots and containers, we use a different range of composts which we'll be looking at in an upcoming article soon.
