Re: plant pot soil add sand to the clay soil ?

 

ghbt wrote:
[...]

It should be OK, as it isn't usually critical; but I'd up the
"compost" proportion a bit, as you want good water absorbency in
pots. You may find that in use your topsoil makes the mixture turn to
concrete when it's dry: worth trying some out in pots without plants
until you get a mix which stays crumbly when dry and doesn't stick
together like dough when wet.

Use gardener's sharp sand, not builder's: biggest bits an eighth of
an inch across.

But your mixture will still get exhausted in pots, and you'll still
need to feed in a year or so. I generally use the stuff out of
growbags -- sometimes even used ones.

--
Mike.

 


thanks for your response. but i remember being told some time ago that  grow
bags and shop compost are ok for a short time; but do not contain the
'essential minerals' that are found in ordinary garden soil.  Which are
apparently necessary for long term use in a pot.

 


By essential minerals my understanding is that it means other things than
are found in ordinary plant feed.

 

ghbt wrote:

I take the same view; but in practice it doesn't usually matter much.
As I said, though, whatever you fill a pot with will become
exhausted, so the plant will have to be fed. Your soil-based mixture
is roughly like John Innes, and will last much longer than growbag
stuff; and in theory should result in healthier plants. I wouldn't
use peat-type media for anything like a fruit tree or a flowering
tree I wanted to keep in a container for years; and even then I'd
expect to have to change the soil regularly _and_ feed.

--
Mike.