Soil Conditioner

[noviceveggrower]

Hi,

My local council tip is selling soil conditioner. £2 for quite a big bag.

As you may, or may not know, my new plot hasn't had anyone on for sometime so the ground is very poor and is as hard as concrete at the moment.

I was wondering is this stuff any good and would it benefit my plot in anyway.

Thanks

[Jay-ell]

In order for them to market it as compost they would have to jump through etra hoops and British Standards etc so they sell it as soil conditioner which is nearly compost, not quite as broken down in my experience.

But it's good to add to your garden. Because councils use massive piles of greens and browns and turn it with heavy machinery it gets hot and kills off the majority of any microbes that are in it - massive hot composting piles.

It's organic matter (ok, you'll probably find some bits of plastic but I've found them in "good quality" commercial compost bags as well) so will benefit your soil. If you stack it to one side it will continue finishing off to a finer compost.

[Jay-ell]

P.S. try calling them up and see if they deliver it by the ton. mine is £2.5 a 25kg bag or £27 a ton. You would need access for them to tip all the compost onto your plot (i.e. not fence at the front of the plot and vehicle access to the site). If you have a trailer you might also be able to pick up a ton ( NCLE council charge £12 a ton)

[ESBkevin]

To echo Jay-ells comments, yes it's good for the soil. If you can't do anything with beds this season, cover them in brown corrugated cardboard and then a thick layer of council soil improver. You can sprinkle grass cuttings over if you have some, but essentially leave that over winter for the worms to have a field day (the birds might pull it about in winter looking for worms and insects).
Next spring you can plant straight into it (maybe add some black farmyard manure too). See Charles Dowdings youtube chanel for more on this method.