Using Chicken Grit in Gardens and Containers as a Mulch and to Increase Drainage in Soil

Chicken Grit is Not Just for Chickens

If you read plant tags they often say – ‘plant this plant in moist, well-drained soil’. As a beginning gardener I was really confused by this statement. How can the soil be both moist and at the same time well-drained. I figured out that the organic part of the soil – like compost or leaf-mold – was the moisture holding part of the soil – but what did I add to increase drainage?

Chickens – such as this cute one – ingest small-scale grit that is used to help their digestion.

There is a type of small-scale grit that is used by chickens to help them to digest their food. It is not only useful for chickens it is also great as a soil-amendment in gardens. At the gardens here at Northview we use lots of chicken grit both in containers and in the soil. It took a while for me to find this – this is a summary of my gardening journey.

Horticultural Grit in England

In England there is a type of grit that is used widely in gardens called Horticultural Grit. When I gardened in England I used this tiny grit in many ways; as a top-dressing on top of potted plants, as a soil amendment when taking plant cuttings and also growing seeds. When I moved to the States I looked for it and found nothing much. I used aquarium gravel – not the blue one! but often this was only available in small quantities.

Horticultural Grit is used in England used as a soil top-dressing around container grown tulips. The grit is aesthetically pleasing, increases drainage, and stops muddy potting soil from splashing onto the flowers.

River Gravel – Top-Dressing for Flower Beds

I spent many years looking for a cheap alternative to horticultural grit in America. One type of gravel that I found is small-sized river gravel. I use this for topping my flower beds. It is a great used as an inorganic mulch that both keeps moisture in the soil beneath and increases drainage. However, the one that I found is too large for use in containers.

Gravel-mulched flower bed with a crocus that has pushed its way through the stones.

The gravel garden at Northview is mulched with river gravel and has not been watered for twenty-two years.

Chicken Grit for Moist, Well-Drained Soil

The river gravel that I used as a mulch on flower bedsx was too large for use in containers. I needed something smaller.

Chicken Grit comes in three sizes. I use the smallest size in container mixes and the larger ones in flower beds.

My answer to increasing drainage was chicken grit. I love chicken grit and use it all over the garden.

Chicken grit is made from granite that is pH neutral. (Not acid or alkaline). It comes in three sizes that are used for different sized chickens. I buy all sizes. The small size that is used for chicks I use for seedling mixes and anywhere I need this fine grit. The large grit size is used in flower beds, especially when planting bulbs.

At Northview we make custom mixes for containers that include chicken grit to increase drainage.

We add chicken grit to potting soil when planting up bulbs or other plants that need good drainage.

The base of a bulb is particularly prone to rotting. Sit the rounded bottom of the bulb on a bed of chicken grit to increase drainage at this vulnerable bulb part. This is a hyacinth bulb but this is especially important when planting Lily bulbs.

These crocus bulbs (that are technically called corms) are surrounded by chicken grit in this container planting.

So to summarize using chicken grit in gardens:

1. Chicken grit is a useful inorganic material that we use as a top dressing on containers of plants that need great drainage like bulbs, rock-garden plants, and silver-leaved herbs like lavenders and rosemary.
2. Grit is great mixed into container potting mixes to help water to drain through the soil and prevent rotting of bulbs and drought-tolerant plants.
3. Chicken grit can be used on top of the potting soil when planting seeds or taking plant cuttings.
4. In flower beds – where the soil is clay-based – adding chicken grit can open up the soil texture and help plant roots to easily grow through the soil.
5. One added benefit is that soil digging small mammals do not prefer digging into grit so we do use it around sensitive plants.
6. The light color of the chicken grit is great underneath silver-leaved plants like lavender to reflect heat and light up into the undersides of the plant to prevent rotting.

Potted up snowdrops and winter aconites do well as long as the potting soil is well-drained.

I hope that you find this advice helpful. If you do – please tell your gardening buddies. Bye for now Gardening Friends. Jenny Rose Carey