My Homemade high power soil mix!

Hello everyone as the sun was out today I decided to mix up my own 'Bat Mix' for use this summer. Its totally non scientific and any advice would be appreciated, this is roughly how I have used bat guano over the years in the garden minus the perlite!. The end result seems good and im sure it will do well, although I repotted a poppy and after a good water it did not drain through as quick as i hoped (with a bed of broken pottery, stones etc at the bottom), im thinking something like coconut hair would be perfect to open up the soil a bit although ideally id like a free substitute! Any suggestions welcome!
Next time also I will use 100% home made compost from a few locations or some peat free rather than the JAB bagged stuff in the pics.
The best thing is a made this up myself this morning ( 400 litres minimum ) for a total of �£35 and an hours hard labor and I shall not be adding any extra nutrients this year. You could probably reduce on the costs if you shop around or choose different ingredients.
Longwinded Photo blog below, with captions.

The ingredients.



3 x J Arthur Bowers 70 litre compost. �£10 +
Generous helping of mums home made compost, approx 120 litres



Approx 3 kg of fresh Bat Guano. 20 kg �£50 +
2 - 3 kg Cavemans Rock Guano added. 20 kg �£30



2 shovels of Ashes from the bonfire added to the mix



1 bag non toxic sand. �£3.00 + 1 Kg Bone meal, found in shed



40 litres perlite. �£15 for 100 litres



Turned and finished - slightly aching!.




This is the 'Bat Mix' packed back into the bags the ingredients came from, plus a full Miracle grow bag
(which will never be in my mums garden again!), bin liner and half a dustbin. Easily 400 litres.



My Costs:
j arther bowers 3 x 70 litre bag �£10
bag of non toxic sand �£3
Bone meal 1 kg �£1.50
Bat guano - Fresh & Rock (based on purchase of a 20kg each)
3kg x fresh 3kg x rock �£12.50
Perlite �£8 (based on 100 litre bag @ �£15)

Any questions or feedback much appreciated, and I have 1 bag going spare if anyone wants to collect from Beckenham, Kent!.

 

Hi CavemanUK, welcome to the forum. Sounds like you've been hard at work! To save your back from all that mixing, ever thought of using a cement mixer, that's been my method for years, dead easy.

 

Hi Terrier its a good idea thanks, would be more consistent with less effort! When I do another I will see if I can borrow one.

 

looks good CM, were do you get your bat gauno from?

 

From bats of course

 

I just wondered were you got them, do you do a lot of caving as your username sudgests or are you a bat group volunter?

 

Vested interest here Pro, http://www.gumtree.com/london/25/20053025.html

 

Lovely Caveman step by step instructions with pictures as well Superb!

I hope after all that hard work you treated yourself to a little sit down and of course a drink or two. Hel.xxx.

 

Hi Helofadiger, yes I most certainly enjoyed a cool glass later in the day
Progard and walnut I am in the business of selling bat guano but im very proud of my compost mix photo's Its a cheap simple mix which as I recommend can be substituted with many other ingredients of your choice
Hope im not intruding, im planning to do lots more photo's of the suburb garden this year and seeking advice from readers

 

Thats really cool. I have perlite in the shed actually. Would it be good to add to my water logged clay garden?

 

Actually mate if its really wet Id imagine all the perlite would float to the top or something. Anyway if that happens to me i will just chuck some mulch down to hide it and leave out the perlite next year.

 

Actually mate if its really wet Id imagine all the perlite would float to the top or something. Anyway if that happens to me i will just chuck some mulch down to hide it and leave out the perlite next year. </font>[/quote]Cheers, i'll probably dig it in with some mulch then.

 

Caveman I will continue on this thread rather than keep the other going. You mentioned reading up on clay. I looked into it myself as I am on clay and posted this thread some time ago. http://www.gardenerscorner.co.uk/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=000134;p=1#000000

The point bring that clay doesn't drain because the particle size is so small. Consequently adding anything and everything improves drainage.

NewbieGreen. You mentioned adding Perlite to the garden. It would certainly help, but Perlite is pretty expensive and it seems a bit of a waste. I am sure it could be better used for seedlings etc.

 

I have a fair couple of litres of it bought of ebay for when i sold seedlings

So are the properties important to seedlings, that it holds water when dry and helps drainage when logged? Are there any mineral qualities to it? Also i hear this sharp sand alot, which i presume you would recommend? What is that actually called in b&q, could someone find it on their website for me? Sorry but i really dont want to put the wrong stuff down and make it even worse.

 

Sorry peter, i've got your link, and about the nutriets, and thank you very much. Its actually vermiculite i've got, not perlite.