[hammers07]

I have grown a lot of my own plants this year from seed

in past years i have used nursey grown plants and always just dug a hole and
planted them. I have had mixed results.However I have seen programs on telly where people have added there own magic mix into the hole before planting. They never seem to let on whatit is. So my question is is there anything i should be adding into the hole
before planting the veg plants either to give them a boost, or make the roots or final crop
stronger/better ?

[mumofstig]

If your soil is poor, as mine is, just add a handful of compost to the planting hole, bought or home made

[Eatyourgreens]

I wouldn't normally add anything to a planting hole for a short term (Annual) veg plant as long as the soil is in good condition, and if it's not I would consider changing that rather than adding quick fixes.


Bob

[mumofstig]

Changing the condition of your soil takes a long while,unfortunately, adding some compost helps in the meantime

[Eatyourgreens]

Sorry, didn't see your post Mumofstig, I agree if your soil is poor then maybe adding some fertilisers to the ground or direct into the planting hole would be a solution in the short term, but the ideal would be to add to the soils productivity by improving the soils general condition, yes this can take a while, but some gardeners and many farmers (Old as well as new) even today will just use fertilisers year on year without putting anything back into the soil.

There is a place for short term fertilisers, but aiming for a rich fertile soil is better.

Bob

PS But even then your suggestion of adding compost is actually soil improvement rather than adding fertiliser so even though we said it differently we were saying the same thing