Peat free compost or farm yard manure to improve soil please?

Good morning gardening lovelies,

We turned what I think was an old border, which had been left to go to lawn (well weeds), back into a border. The garden is south-west and that border gets the sun a lot of the day, so unlike the other side, is dusty dry most of the time.

I have bought bags of peat-free compost and spread it across the whole area, but it still seems dry and a bit sad

I don't have anywhere to put a compost bin, so I am assuming I will need to continue with putting soil improvers on the whole area?

But they are so expensive, I would like to get the best type to really improve the quality of the soil, so wondered if there was any difference between these please?

Peat-free compost
Farm yard manure
Soil improvers

Many thanks in advance

 

Farm yard manure every time Barders

As much as possible too. I’m a great believer in no dig gardening so I add compost, manure every autumn as a thick mulch.
Works well for me on my sandy loam

 

Thanks Verdun I was wondering if I should dig it in, but will keep leaving it on top.

Sorry this is going to be a really stupid question when you say 'autumn' when would that start in gardening terms please, from say September?

Many thanks

 

I wait until late September and continue over winter Barders

At that time of year plants aren’t damaged and the manure has time to break down over the winter.

The very best “manure” is fresh seaweed. I used to gather tons of it and apply it thickly everywhere here. The seaweed smell fits in anyway with the coast and it does a couple of things......it’s texture and saltiness deters snails etc., it is weed free, it breaks down heavy soils, helps bind sandy soils and it breaks down beautifully to a crumbly form by spring.

 

@Barders hope you don't mind me hijacking your thread but I was going to start a new one which seems silly. I used to love my day trips to Margate as a child and to the old original Dreamland.

@Verdun At the local GC I can get 5x50ltr bags of sterilised Farmyard Manure for £12. I was wondering if this was a good product to put a layer of it on my borders in Autumn when all my Perennials are finished and cut back. Also will it give me a better chance of saving my Delphiniums (lost all but one last winter) and if not would it be a good idea to lift them and store over winter in a pot. I have a little temporary greenhouse. I am unsure on how and if to water over winter for all plants in there, for example Heliotrope. So many questions in one post...…...sorry

 

Great, thank you Verdun, I have lived here for a year and only been to the beach once, so that will give me an excuse to get out of the house, get some fresh air and save some money, thanks again.

 

Hi Cindy, I haven't been to Dreamland yet, apparently, it has changed a lot!

Do you mind where do you get the bags from please? (just incase my seaweed harversting falls short of what I need

 

Absolutely agree with all of this. It's the best soil improver ever. It conditions the soil, fertilises it and holds moisture. If you get a load of it delivered it will seem like a lot but you'll get through it pretty quickly. You can't really have too much if you have even a smallish garden.

 

Thank you Redwing

 

@Barders a local garden centre called ESK but I think its available in both Homebase and B&Q

 

You need an excuse to get to the beach Barders???
Enjoy yourself there....and take your dog if you have one

Cindy, yes that sounds good. Go for it.
Your delphiniums! I would mulch with straw if you can around the crown and add manure locally. No, I wouldn’t dig them up to overwinter. Take basal cuttings in early spring for plants later in the season. Slugs are likely to be your biggest problem in over wintering delphiniums I think so watch out for them....mind you, I find straw, again, to be pretty effective against them
Your heliotropes? Are they the annual Marine or the perennial sort like Chatsworth? The former will naturally die out in autumn but the latter will survive in a mild winter. You can take cuttings...now is good...of both sorts and overwinter in your temporary gh.

I can get both farmyard manure and local compost very cheaply.....I mulched this pretty big garden generously, incl the lawn, with local compost. Despite a long hot summer the soil has maintained reasonable moisture content...thanks to mulching.

 

@Verdun my Heliotropes are 'nautilus blue' a tender perennial whatever that means. The supplier said to put under cover over winter. Still don't know about watering though.

 

.....and a spade Barders, of course ! :rasp:

Cindy, tender perennials are those that have the ability to be perennial but won’t be frost resistant ....or even very cold resistant. If in a container can you put them in your temporary greenhouse for the winter? I would cover with a fleece and water only minimally
Don’t over water, feed once a week if in a container
Take cuttings now.....easy. Non flowering shoots, say 3” or 4” long in mpc or, better still, mpc and perlite

 

just out of curiosity... i have dried seaweed that i feed to the dogs. Could I use this in the garden?

(sorry, also hijacking the thread!)