Mixing building sand with compost

paddylonglegs

Hi folks,

I have a lot of building sand (it looks like a mix of topsoil and grit) left over. I’m woendering can I add it to beds around the house if I mix with compost?

I’m just not sure if it contains chemicals etc but it seems fine

I’ve mixed sharp sand (about 1 tonne) into my boarders along with agri grit ( 1 tonne) last spring and plenty of compost/bark/manure over the years as it was very heavy (pottery grade:pac:) clay. I’ve heard Monty mentioning using it before too when planting med plants.

Then I’ve read on the wonderful world of Google not to mix it with clay as it compounds the problem. :pac: :pac:

Anyways from my own experience my soil seems to have improved and is nice and light.

Maybe you could save it and use it as needed directly into planting holes of things that need very free drainage?

magicbastarder

building sand and sharp sand are different. sharp sand is spikier and IIRC the grains are bigger, and allows for better drainage.

I wondered about that!

Thud

If planting carrots a lot of sand in the soil can be beneficial to them growing straight, quickcrop newsletter had a bit about it this week

paddylonglegs

magicbastarder wrote: »

building sand and sharp sand are different. sharp sand is spikier and IIRC the grains are bigger, and allows for better drainage.

But it doesn’t necessarily contain different type of material? My sand was for paving and it might even have the name of plastering sand (to be mixed with cement... anyway, it felt slightly more coarse than say beach sand but it didn’t feel like something that would be an issue to mix with compost for everyday planting