Hello again

[Tarragon2017]

Dear all,

First of I would like to say thank you for all the advice I received last year. It was my first year growing anything and as you can imagine all information was welcome but confusing , I am sure I annoyed a lot of you with the same old questions.

This year will be a little different as I am not sure If I will remain here or move , nonetheless I would like to grow some Veg and Herbs in the mean time.

I wanted just as an experiment and my own fun to create my own organic potting soil using coco coir , perlite vermiculite ,volcanic rock dust and see whats best along with compost and top soil and a sprinkling of organic plant food

has anyone experienced these mediums to grow plants before ?

[nickdub]

Not done quite the mixture you refer to for compost - I'd be a bit chary of the coir myself, as I've read and heard none to flattering things about it.

You don't say what sort of plants the compost is for, and this will be the single biggest factor in how well it works out, as obviously different plants prefer different mixtures.

[bario1]

I wanted just as an experiment and my own fun to create my own organic potting soil using coco coir , perlite vermiculite ,volcanic rock dust and see whats best along with compost and top soil and a sprinkling of organic plant food

No grit?

[self-contained]

I used lots of coconut coir last year because I don't drive and the dehydrated packs were easy to carry and rehydrate into good volumes of compost at home. I had good germination rates in the coir, but then everything seemed to stall. I don't think there is enough nutrition in the coir for seedlings once they have used up the store in the seed. It's great for keeping the growing medium light and easily drained, but it does dry out very easily.

I'm reusing it this year, but mixed with multi-purpose compost (some old, some new) and growmore. I'm hoping to have some vermicompost to add by late summer and I'd like to try and pick up some chicken manure if I'm feeling strong one day.

[veggiechicken]

Hi again Tarragon.
I've mixed those coir blocks (reconstituted) with multipurpose compost (MPC) to make the MPC go further and I've added Vermiculite to it too, as I was given a sack of it leftover from insulating a stove.
My only reason for mixing them was to cheapen the price of the MPC, not to "improve" it.
I've never used perlite or rockdust.

[Tarragon2017]

I think for the experiment I will mostly be growing different sort of veg and possibly herbs , but maybe fruit it all depends if I know I am staying here , I should really know by about June which I know is right bang in the growing season but , I either do nothing or at least try.

I agree with other posters, the reason I am mixing it up is so I dont have to keep going to the garden centre and buying huge bags of compost. I must admit I grew loads of things last year , some failures and some successes. I think to have real success with veg I need a raise beds but I would install one in the new house and that is another blog for another day.

Hahhaha Grit , I dont know why the readers here were so against it, All i was doing was listening to alan titchmarsh and monty. After all I thought grit was great for Med herbs and improved draining maybe I was wrong. The answer is yes I have grit but I shy to use

[nickdub]

Grit is more or less essential for growing Mediterranean herbs successfully, unless you already have exceptionally free draining soil naturally.