Bulk Soil with Grit

nitram78

I hope someone maybe able to help. About 3 years ago I purchased some bulk soil with large amounts of grit in the mix to help drainage, which has been perfect for my garden that is overly heavy in clay. I believe this was called "London Mix" which was rich dark soil with the grit in, from whoever the company was who delivered it on a palette.

However, as much googling as I have done, I simply can't find who supplied it and of course I threw out the bulk bag out during lockdowns.

Anyone got any ideas or maybe come across someone else selling bulk bags with grit in (which in itself seems short on options)?

Thanks in advance.

nitram78

You know, sometimes I just don't know how it happens. I post this and then do one last google search and up comes the original supplier:

https://www.compostdirect.com/jubilee-compost-with-great-british-grit/p5

Costs certainly have gone up. I paid £90 ish 3 years a bag, but now £135 (on offer) in my area. It is what it is, I guess.

Any other options out there?

AnniD

Funnily enough l'd just done a search and that page popped up @nitram78  
I found this one as well, don't know if it's of any use? 
https://jprfarmdirect.co.uk/product/border-mix-with-added-grit/

Fairygirl

Why did you need it to have grit in it?
The best thing to help drainage is just to add lots of organic matter - manure/compost, leaf mould etc 
Grit is only useful in pots/containers 

Pete.8

I get my topsoil and manure from https://www.cpa-horticulture.co.uk/topsoil

Allotment Boy

@nitram78 if it's any consolation,  they would want £165 to deliver to me, not that I will be ordering any.  I will be getting a load of manure from the local horse stable.

Fairygirl

Deep pockets would be required for that other place @Allotment Boy. I shudder to think what they'd charge to deliver here   

Grit simply isn't worth it for a large area. Organic matter is what works @nitram78 . 

Pete.8

I completely agree with @Fairygirl

From the RHS- 
https://www.rhs.org.uk/soil-composts-mulches/clay-soils

Adding grit, sand or gravel to clay soils:

Clay particles are amazingly dominant in a soil. This is explained by the relative size of the different particles (clay, sand and silt) that soil contains. Clay particles are very small but, because this allows more particles to fit in any given space (say 1cm cubed), they have huge surface area that dominates the physical properties of soil. In comparison, sand and silt particles are larger, so fewer particles are needed to fill a space (say 1cm cubed again). As a result, the overall surface area of sand and silt is smaller and so much less influential on determining the characteristics of a soil than the clay particles.

In practice what this means is: to dilute the proportion of clay in a heavy soil requires very large volumes of grit or other material. It is seldom feasible to do this on anything but a small scale and, for most gardeners, other options such as raised beds, adding organic matter and choosing plants that thrive in clays are more practical.

Even where a clay soil contains for example 40 percent clay particles (a relatively modest content compared to heavy clay soils), the proportion of clay in the top cultivated part of the soil would have to be reduced by half to make the soil easy to work. This would require 250kg per sq m (460lbs per sq yd) of grit or gravel. Adding materials to clay can also make the clay less stable, so the soil becomes harder to manage. Experimenting on a small scale at first is recommended to be sure that any additions are worthwhile and won't have damaging effects on workability of the soil.

Posy

If your soil is just solid, dead clay, grit is a wonderful improver with LOADS of organic material. I'm  amazed by the variety of soil types people call clay and by the qualities they  claim for it. Have a good dig around. Are there any living roots? Can you see evidence of worm life or bugs or fungi of any type? Does water move through it? Is the colour unvaried? Get to know your clay and experiment but don't write off grit, it's excellent in the right place.