Rock Dust

There has been a fair amount of press in recent months about using rock dust to improve your soil. As all soil is in effect ground up rock, its original supply of minerals have been used up over the following millenia, leaving some soils quite poor in mineral content. Now, whilst adding compost etc will improve structure and add some elements, most noticeable being nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, some elements are not replenished and some of these, whilst not required by a plant to grow, unlock nutrients from the soil giving much better growth.

As I work in a quarry, granite dust is in plentiful supply so I am giving all of my beds a top dressing with it and will hoe it into the top inch or so and allow rain to dissipate it further. At worst it will be a soil conditioner, at best it may well have a noticeable effect. I will report back later in the season.