Outdoor soil mix

[Smokeradam 2]

pen earth brown forest soil , small sand mixture is stirred into this place transplanting the plants to ensure adequate progress

[manivelle 37]

hi everyone

i'm south france 42°n but even here we have some mold problems with late flowering or when growing in high altitude (cold night etc..). some people have mold even near the sea.

and what i can say is rock dust ,river sand and basalt help a lot o reduce mold problems. minerals are good. don't forget it in your mix.

mycos help too.

i hope i will be able to show some early flowering plants this year. end august/earlysept. here we too, have to haverst as soon as possible due to hunters and autumn storm and wet weather.

stay safe guerilleros

[Hashmaker6 1,165]

I'm a noob but a relatively decent Gardner, fruit & veg, flowers etc. The RHS is always my first port of call

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=620

Ref the posts on heavy clay soil. My garden is heavy clay. This soil is a gift but it needs work to tame it especially if in guerilla conditions as frequency of visit and available time may not be the same as if it were ones back garden.

Essentially you need to incorporate as much organic matter as possible into the soil. Turn it over well and double dig it correctly. Sheeps wool, well rotted manure and garden compost make excellent additions but you'll need a few years work for it to pay dividends.

I'd say 3 years time with organic matter added in massive amounts each season and your soil will produce the finest of plants. Clay is also ridiculously rich in all manner of nutrient which in a gorilla situation is the best position to be in I'd imagine.

E2a. If poss once your grow is finished turn it all over so that the exposed clay can be broken down by weather (especially frost).

Edited June 10, 2016 by Hashmaker6

[again1 103]

@

manivelle what type of yields you getting down in France?

[Flintstone 2,794]

On 15/07/2016 at 11:19 AM, again1 said:

@

manivelle what type of yields you getting down in France?

@manivelle

[manivelle 37]

we have the same climat as north california .  so the yield are the same depending how you grow. 

[Guest]

@Hashmaker6

 

hi mate, about the clay, my new plot has lovely soil for about a foot deep, then it hits clay, it's not like that clay you have in gardens, it's not wet/soft like normal, it's same orange colour but it's like hard and goes crumbly  when shovelled. I was thinking of digging it away but shall I just mix it in with the good soil and some compost

 

see the different layers as it gets deeper

 

 

[Shots101 53]

This has been a great thread to catch up on after I have done my first year. Was intersting to see what I did right and what I have done wrong.

 

I found my site and dug down 9 inches to find clay. I was on a slope from a motorway that goes down to a large wooded area. All manor of plants growing around my plot which was positive.

 

I ended up digging large holes and filling with compost and nutes, this year  I want to carry less in (carrying stuff is too obvious where they are) so this thread has been great in informing me of new ways to do things. I was going to do prepare and turn over the soil down to 12" in a wide area and prepare land over making holes..

 

Interesting to read not to use chicken manure, I used chicken manure pellets this year along with fish blood and bone and bonemeal etc and Have had a very successful grow. My autumm prep for next year will be to prepare a whole area of land, turn it over numerous times and let it have winter to break it down, I was also planning on mixing in chicken manure pellets, fish blood and bonemeal along with bat guano. I was also looking to add coco-coir and maybe a few bags of compost... In my mind, this seemed like a great idea but wondering whether I should use chicken manure even it ages?

 

Regarding organic matter, being next to a wooded area can I scrape up old leaves from the trees etc? Also, surely the topsoil around the base of trees would be ideal to use? What are your thoughts.

[flighty 16,975]

2 hours ago, Shots101 said:

Regarding organic matter, being next to a wooded area can I scrape up old leaves from the trees etc? Also, surely the topsoil around the base of trees would be ideal to use? What are your thoughts

That's called skimming and is an excellent way of getting good soil. 

 

Also I use chicken manure with very good results! 

[Shots101 53]

Just doing some general gardening reading regarding clay soil, I’ve not seen anyone mention Gypsum in this thread, can it be used? All I can find is that it helps break up the clay and it is calcium sulphate but doesn’t affect Ph. Any thoughts on this?

[flighty 16,975]

I started using it at the beginning of this season as calcium is key to breaking up clay. Just be careful how much you use as it's a type of salt and only use the horticultural stuff. 

 

You can also get stuff called clay breaker, I think the main ingredient is gypsum.

[Shots101 53]

Thank you bud.. just what i was thinking and hoping someone had some anecdotal evidence 

[Shots101 53]

On 6/1/2003 at 8:03 PM, oldtimer1 said:

Dave I have grown on heavy clay soil for more years than you want to know.

My advise is this.

Do not dig holes and try and enrich the soil within it or sink bottomless pots, both methods act like sumps and the enriched soil will go sour.

The best way to deal with clay top soil is to cultivate a big area by digging properly. Like this I have had plants with root systems 3 to 5 ft in diameter on each plant.

Clay soil in naturally rich in all nutrients so does not really need base fertilisers. Do not bother digging anything in, if the soil is acid, top dress with dolomite lime. Once the plants are growing mulch the whole area with as much organic matter as you can.

So get a fork out and turn the whole area over to cultivate the soil. Then your plants will have no restrictions and they can spread their roots as far as they like.

One absolute NO NO is any chicken manure type products, things like Rooster is nearly as good as a weed killer.

Hope this helps.

 

 

We you also tie in Chicken manure pellets into this which are rotted? I used them last year to no real deficit as far as I saw.

[badbillybob 32,983]

ive used the chicken pellets too, and have only had problems once. that was through putting too many in the hole. 

otherwise crack on, but go easy on it, its powerful stuff.

I stick to a handful near the bottom of the hole, with the hole being about the equivalent of 20 litres of soil.

[Amaethon 1,496]

Chicken pellets going cheep !

 

 

£5 for 7Kg.

On 08/02/2019 at 0:16 PM, badbillybob said:

I stick to a handful near the bottom of the hole

The soil on my plot is almost barrren.  Could I get away with two handfuls ?