Soil mix for patio garden containers

Hi,

I am new to gardening. I have a patio garden and am planning on buying a set of 5 different acid loving pieris evergreen shrubs. I know that you need to use Ericaceous compost however buying enough compost to fill 5 large containers would be expensive. I don't have access to any soil in my garden so I'm wondering if it is possible to buy some top soil and mix it with the compost as a more cost friendly solution?

 

You can use Acid soil ... if your soil is Acid? (That will likely be the case if there are Rhododendrons and Azaleas growing in gardens around you)

Otherwise don't skimp on Ericaceous compost - to get a decent show off an acid loving plant it needs the soil pH to be right so i'm afraid false-economy to skimp on that.

 

Thanks. I'm pretty sure the soil in my area is acid but as my garden is covered in slabs I can't actually access any of the soil. I'm guessing you can easily buy acid soil?

 

Probably cost the same as Ericaceous compost. I'd raid the garden of someone who has acid soil in their garden ... bit tricky just at this time though.

Dunno how big the pots are for the plant you have bought, but the plants will be happy either in those pots, or if their roots have already filled those pots then a slightly bigger pot. So potting-on to a bigger size, rather than filling the whole container, might make your Ericaeous compost go far enough for now? You could then stand the pots in the containers (padded out with something so they are at the top of the containers and not going to fall over) ... and then when time & opportunity available get some acid soil to mix with Ericaceous compost to fill the containers affordably.

The pots will dry out faster (than a bigger container) so they might need more frequent watering

 

Yes agree, use Ericaceous compost, its the easiest option, though buying some might be a problem atm.

You can buy Ericaceous liquid feeds, and they say use rain water, but find it much easier to add a few drop of cider vinegar to a 5/6 ltr can of water which lowers its PH /makes it acid.