Soil preparation query

[shirlthegirl43]

I moved some huge heathers from a bed near the house last week. The cat has used the heather bed as a potty for a few years so I want to dig out the top foot of earth and replace with fresh so I can sow salad crops there. What would be best for salads, straight multi-purpose compost, or a mix of soil and compost? Also, what sort of fertiliser should I put in - I have growmore, blended farm manure and chicken poo pellets to choose from - which is best for salads?

For the other part of the garden, I am totally confused as to how best to prepare for planting out my brassicas etc. I have finally been able to weed and dig over the bit that got planted up last year and only grew a row of peas and a few turnips, the carrots and kohl rabi vanished without trace. This year I am going to put sweetcorn, cabbage, brocolli, cauliflower there. Not sure what I need to do to the soil before planting these out. Same choice of treatments as before. Can I fertilise the soil, rake and plant out or do I need to leave some time between the fertilising and planting?

Sorry for so many questions and hope it makes sense!

[barrie tough]

lot to do there,for your brassicas will need to put some lime down & some growmore about 2 weeks before planting,they need to be planted firmly to stop club root.for your lettuce & sweetcorn any well rotted down manure will do would leave for a while too.just any compost will do just to put a bit of life back into the soil.hope this helps a bit

[shirlthegirl43]

Cheers Barrie. What puzzles me is why you have to leave it 2 weeks after adding stuff to the soil. What problems would I encounter if I fertilised this morning and planted out this afternoon?

[barrie tough]

not a lot, just gives it time to combine with the soil but not that important.if you cant wait you should be ok

[shirlthegirl43]

Thanks again. Really need to get some stuff into the ground and feel like I am getting somewhere this year. Health and weather have not been conducive to getting the bramble patch dug further before now and my little brassica plants are suffering from being stuck in modules!

[barrie tough]

no how you feel.need to get things out, so far behind its scary but will get there some time .

[scarey55]

no how you feel.need to get things out, so far behind its scary but will get there some time .

Just thought you might like to know that Scar(e)y is far behnd with planting out too