[morbidia]

I can't get hold of any manure and my hen poop needs to mature so is it ok to buy bags of compost to mix in with the soil on the plot, or is there something else I can add, the soil is clay but with a good digging over is quite nice, I am not sire how long its been since the plot was used so I am not too sure about the quality of the soil, I also have home made compost at home but its not quite ready yet and lots of bags of leafmold in various stages of rotting down

[leeks r us]

if your soil sis more on the clay side i would ad equal quantaties of sharp sand /compst to adjust the structure of the soil, however you must do a soil test to determine the ph of the soil to see how fertile it is.

[potatogrower]

improving texture, once you have cleared the weeds you can add sand, compost and rotivate it up. you can buy something called groworganic fertilizer and sprinkle that, that will slowly release nutrients into the soil.

BTW like its mentioned get a pH tester and check your soil. for your soil to release the nutrients your soil will need to be on the slightly acidic side but it depends on what you're growing and what sort of soil pH soil it needs.

[mumofstig]

You can buy bags of compost, if you feel you really really must.....but the organic matter in multipurpose compost degrades very quickly and doesn't add much in the way of nutrients 

I think you'll be surprised how much you will grow this year without adding any, while you wait for your compost to mature 

Just add some Fish Blood and Bone, or Growmore (non-organic) before sowing or planting - it's what I did in my plot's first year

[BussinSpain]

Horse manure and home-made compost is your best bet.  You are adding nutrients and organic matter which the plants will thank you for.  "You don't get out, what you don't put in"!  I make all my own compost, rot leaves down (of which we have plenty - olive, almond, pine and fruit trees galore)  I also have a friend with 6 horses.  Her horse manure is delivered to me every now and again by a friend as we will not take our car (Peugot 307SW  HDI) off roading to get to hers.  She has so much manure that she gives it away Some of the "roads" if you can call them that are not much more than donkey tracks!!!  I do feed the delivery person a good meal sometimes to thank him for his effort:)

[savbo]

you might be able to get a lorry load of municipal compost or spent mushroom compost sor a lot less than the equivalent bagged compost

[Chrysalis]

Just been to Morrisons and they had chicken pellets in large tubs for £5.  £10 everywhere else.  It will keep you going until your stuff has rotted down....

[snowdrops]

you might be able to get a lorry load of municipal compost or spent mushroom compost sor a lot less than the equivalent bagged compost

I got some for our backgarden,I ordered 2 ton @ £60 & got 4 ton I used it all& what a difference it has made

[gremlin]

I thinks that's a clue. To significantly improve soils on a whole plot basis we are talking in tons, not bags.   

To add 100mm layer of compost to a whole 10m x 10m plot is probably about 10 tons.   100mm thick of course will go absolutely nowhere. 

[mumofstig]

  not many people get that amount of manure/soil improver and we all still grow excellent crops

For the first year on a plot there's certainly no need to feel pressure about adding loads of manure.

Grow for the year and see what the soil is like as you say it seems quite nice. Your chicken compost and any allotment compost you make this year may be enough to keep your soil producing nicely with a little FB&B raked in for good measure.

[snowdrops]

I agree I've never felt the need to add all that to the allotment. I was just replying that council compost is sometimes available in large quantities & at a not too prohibitive price. My garden was having a complete makeover & we built some raised beds that were up to 3ft 6"

[morbidia]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I will get a testing kit to see what the soil is and in the mean time I will hope my compost hurries up
I do have a garden full of trees so have loads of leafmould and my compost bin in the garden is full so hopefully some of that will be ready soon, there is also a bin on the plot that we inherited but I'm not too sure if the contents are any good, it looks like people might have been using it as a rubbish bin, I found a pen in it the other day

I have cleared one area and marked out a bed so was going to sort the soil out in that bed then move onto the next one, so I wouldn't need tons of anything straight away, I also have to carry everything there in a barrow from my house as I don't have any transport, my daughter drives but I can't see her picking up horse poop for me

[morbidia]

Just been to Morrisons and they had chicken pellets in large tubs for £5.  £10 everywhere else.  It will keep you going until your stuff has rotted down....

I was looking at chicken pellets in Wilkinsons today I didn't notice how much they were there though and wasn't sure if they were the suitable.........god I have got a lot to learn

[bazh]

I can't get hold of any manure and my hen poop needs to mature so is it ok to buy bags of compost to mix in with the soil on the plot, or is there something else I can add, the soil is clay but with a good digging over is quite nice, I am not sire how long its been since the plot was used so I am not too sure about the quality of the soil, I also have home made compost at home but its not quite ready yet and lots of bags of leafmold in various stages of rotting down

morbidia don't worry about your soil this year just grow what you want and see how it goes, at times I wish I had a clay soil, please don't buy compost

[morbidia]

I can't get hold of any manure and my hen poop needs to mature so is it ok to buy bags of compost to mix in with the soil on the plot, or is there something else I can add, the soil is clay but with a good digging over is quite nice, I am not sire how long its been since the plot was used so I am not too sure about the quality of the soil, I also have home made compost at home but its not quite ready yet and lots of bags of leafmold in various stages of rotting down

morbidia don't worry about your soil this year just grow what you want and see how it goes, at times I wish I had a clay soil, please don't buy compost

Right oh I will just go for it and see how it goes, I'm just panicking because I'm not too sure about what I am doing so I am a bit overwhelmed at the moment