Please hear my plea re.Boarders

Hey there
I have just joined the site I thought my request had gone through yesterday But it looks like it has disappeared I signed in on FAQ Still finding my way around So i'm hoping this time someone will hear my plea
I have boaders ready to plant but need to know how to prepare them i.e what soil should I get to fill them Apparently I have clay soil in my garden so I need to know what to put on top
Look forward to replies Then I can plant
Love Sweetpea

 

First thing is to dig it well, getting all deep weed-roots out, Sweetpea, then dig in compost of some form, to help whatever type of soil you have. If it's heavy clay, try to get fairly rough stuff, with biggish bits of stuff in it, and sand helps too - sharp sand, not builders's sand, though. That should do! If you want to grow anything that's labelled as an acid-loving plant, like rhodies, camellias, azaleas, pieris, unless your soil is acid (which I doubt if you're in Swansea), put them in a pot, with ericaceous compost. Hope that helps - and enjoy your gardening!

 

Hi Sweetpea. There are two aspects. Long term and short term.

Long term, what Debdrobium said is right. If its clay, you want to improve it as much as you can, by adding lots of organic material, also small 10 ml gravel (agricultural grit is the best - but not so easy to find in bulk), and sharp sand. You can get the last two cheaply in bulk from a builders merchant.

If you want a short term fix. I would make a mix of half compost and half sharp sand (must be sharp - thats the name). This is the standard mix I would use for all potting and growing seeds and cuttings. Dig a hole twice the size needed for the plant, put some of the mix in, put the plant in and fill the rest of the hole with the mix. Then water it in well. What this does is give the plant a good start in life, allowing the new roots to easily penetrate the surrounding compost/sand mix, and gives good local drainage. By the time the plant roots have penetrated through this area the plant should hopefully be big enough and strong enough to tackle whatever is outside. But nothing beats doing it properly long term.