Should I amend my soil?
Before you buy compost, topsoil or sand, check whether your soil needs it. A free decision tool from soil scientists, for lawns, vegetable beds, shrubs, trees and native plants.
Compost and topsoil are useful, but a lot of money goes on amendments that don’t help, or make things worse. Answer a few questions and this tells you what’s worth doing for what you’re planting.
The short version
- Trees: never amend the planting hole. Wide hole, native soil, mulch.
- Native and low-water plants: usually nothing. Rich soil works against them.
- Vegetables: yes, compost every year.
- Lawns: improve the soil before seeding. On an existing lawn, aerate and top-dress lightly.
- Clay: compost helps; a little sand makes it worse.
- Standing water: a drainage problem, not a soil-quality one.