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Choosing the right compost for two very large wooden planters?
mullockm
Posts: 2
After finally getting the right person to finish my two very large planters and line them, I am eager to crack on and get some spring bulbs in and then next summer, plant a Bee and Butterfly friendly border into the planters, but before I start im keen not to make a mistake on my choice of compost when I comes to a smaller pot I usually just use my preferred choice of compost being Miracle Grow with water retention, it's serviced me well in the past, but when it comes to a much larger container where I don't want to be changing the compost that often but instead just adding nutrients to it as you would a border in a garden, which mixture of compost what would you suggest to use as and around good idea and what you add part grit to it to help with drainage. Any advice would be kindly welcome
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I always add some garden soil as it's got 'life' in it.
You can add composted bark, extra grit, bagged top soil and a bit of bagged manure or home made compost, depending on what you intend to plant.
Soil mainly for the planters, with added compost/grit etc according to what you're growing, as @K67 says. Bulbs won't mind so much, generally speaking, but compost alone is no use for anything other than annual planting.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Decide what you're going to put in them first. Lavender or herbs for example wont thank you for a rich moisture retentive compost mix.
The position is important too. It appears there is a planter under a large tree.
Also to answer the question of what do I instead to plant in them, well initially spring bulbs but after they have finished im planning on growing alot of the pants from seed to save on a bit of money but for the like of the lupins and foxgloves I will probably buy those as I want flowers the same year, so it's going to be a cottage garden-inspired theme but also with butterfly and bee-friendly spices, I don't think im planning of any that will need specialised soil i.e. Ericaceous soil, some of the plants may like the soil more free draining than others and with a grit soil mixture but I should imaging it's always good to have a part grit mix anyway in most cases, I hope this answers most of your questions 🤔👍
Another thing you can do with long planters is to put extra 'dividers' in along the length to give you more options - drier areas, different soil types etc.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...