Commercial nurseries often sell pre mixed bags of special soil but this is often at a premium.
Free draining soil mix.
1 part commercial potting soil.
Bark is added to.
It holds three to four times its weight in water increases pore space and improves drainage.
This will create concrete.
1 besides being free of disease and other contaminants you can.
If the water takes an hour or more to drain you have poorly draining soil.
Coir is the coarse fiber from the outer husk of coconuts.
Soilless potting mix starting seeds in soil.
If the water drains from the hole in 10 minutes or less you have fast draining soil.
Sphagnum peat moss is mixed into sandy soils to help hold moisture and into clay soils to loosen the soil and improve drainage.
Disease spores bacteria plant eating insects weed.
If your soil is well draining the time the water takes to drain.
The fifth and final way to improve soil drainage is to use additives in your soil.
Don t use fine sand.
When planting perennial plants that like well drained soils in clay the best thing to do is to create a raised bed or berm mounded pile of soil.
A soilless mix gives you more control.
One popular brand of perlite is espoma perlite.
You don t know what s coming in with it.
Dig a hole 30 centimetres deep and wide.
Fill it with water.
Dig a hole once the soil and compost are completely combined that is 12 inches square and about 12 inches deep.
Mix the native clay half and half with coarse sand or crusher fines.
Sphagnum moss is also used as a liner for hanging baskets of plants.
I like it because it loosens up the mix while adding a bit of water retention.
This is the most common and well known additive to improve soil drainage.
Use additives to improve soil drainage.
Check out this earlier post about coir.
How to mix your own cactus and succulent soil.
There are a few different ones that will make your soil drain better and perhaps help with nutrition at the same time.
In contrast to peat coir rewets easily and doesn t compress as readily.
With a neutral ph perlite is easy to find at nurseries and garden centers.
Perlite is a lightweight sterile addition to bagged and homemade potting mixes.
A simple test to find out if your soil is well draining.
Fill the hole with water then allow it to drain completely before filling it again.