Building soil and a healthy garden

Whether you are gardening on sand or clay, adding organic matter to your soil is the key to healthy plants. Good soil is dark and loose in texture, holding moisture to see plants through the dry times, and home to many worms and microbes.

MULCH  The best thing you can do for your garden - less weeding, less watering, more soil life and happier plants. There are lots of options...read more

BUILDING SOIL: Autumn/Winter is a good time to build up soil to feed your plants over the next growing season. Find out six things you can do for your soil over winter.

COMPOST: Supreme recycling - turn your garden and kitchen 'waste' into black gold.  Read more

SEAWEED The ultimate plant food, seaweed is an almost complete fertiliser. Irish farmers grew potatoes without soil purely by layering seaweed onto sand and rock. Read more.

NO-DIG BEDS/PUKE: The no-dig technique can be used to fill a raised bed, create a new bed, or to make small mounds called puke (pu-ke). Read more.

GREEN MANURE CROPS: Grow your own soil - no need for a trailer or barrows, any patch of ground can be used. Read more

STRAWBALE GARDENS:  If you haven't made huge quantities of compost, and you’re thinking of buying in compost or topsoil, consider instead a straw-bale garden. Read more