Dug's FAQ's & Tips
As a gardening family, we firmly believe that the soil beneath one’s feet is the most precious resource in the garden: look after it and the plants and vegetables will thrive. To that end we have spent many years developing our unique range of products, manufactured from the best quality ingredients and designed to be used in their own right or alongside one another to produce optimum results in every corner of the garden.
Please use the updated the product sheet enclosed with your customer mailout as a handy reminder of how to use each product around your garden or click on the 'How to Use' guides here.
FAQ's
Super Dug – How to use
Super Dug is light, clean, easy to use and can be applied all year round. Now produced from kiln dried poultry litter and compressed into a pelleted, super concentrated, balanced organic fertilizer and soil improver it now goes even further!
Super Dug is extremely economical – you use handfuls, not barrow-loads or as we say “use little & often”. By following the user guidelines it can help produce remarkable results for all aspects of your garden. It is incredibly versatile and can be used in a number of ways:-
Bare soil preparation
For general digging, soil conditioning and bed/border preparation, one sack (20kg) will treat approximately 70m2 (300g per square meter). When preparing a plot dig in to the top 6-9 inches of soil – for clay breaking repeat again if necessary. Plant 2-4 weeks after conditioning the soil.
Feeding
For feeding flowers, plants shrubs, fruit & vegetables feed monthly throughout the growing season at a rate 100-200g per square meter. One sack for this purpose has a coverage of up to 200m2.
Compost Activator
Sprinkle a thin layer of pellets every 6 inches in your compost pile or mix with your organic waste before stacking. Super Dug Extra will massively speed up the composting process.
Liquid Feed
Add 75-150g of Super Dug Extra to 5 litres of water and leave for a few days. The resulting liquid fertilizer should be diluted further between 5:1 to 20:1 before using on plants and shrubs. To avoid wastage, use the residue that is left to mulch your beds and borders.
*** The application rates quoted above should be used as a rough guide to help you achieve your gardening needs ***
Traditional Compost – How to use
Cuttings Traditional Compost is the gardener’s best friend. Rich and dark in colour and high in humus, nitrogen, phosphate and potash, it can be used as a mulch to top dress beds or dug into cleared beds for use as a soil improver. However you apply it, Traditional Compost will provide all the major and minor nutrients that your plants, shrubs, fruit and vegetables require.
Soil Conditioning: Apply at a rate of 1 to 2kg (2-4lbs) per square yard working into the soil as required. Being so rich in organic matter and humus it improves both clay and sandy soils.
Top Dressing Beds: Apply as a mulch at a rate of 1 to 2kg (2-4lbs) per square yard around the base lightly work in to the top 2 inches of soil if feasible.
Tree Planting: Blend an equal amount of Cutting’s Traditional Compost with the soil removed from the hole loosely place this mixture in the bottom of the hole and the root ball on top of it. Pack the remaining soil around the root ball and water well.
Organic Seeding Compost: Mix 1 part of Cutting's Traditional Compost with 20 parts of finely sieved disease free good quality loam.
Organic Potting Compost: Mix 1 part of Cutting’s Traditional Compost with 10 parts finely sieved loam.
Derek Owen’s All Purpose Compost – How to use
Dr Derek Owen’s signature compost is a professional quality seed and potting compost.
Ideal for all your seeding and potting requirements and creating stunning basket and pot displays, it is now a firm favourite in every garden. Use direct from the bag for raising plants, seeds or cuttings.
Seeding: Fill seed trays loosely with compost and tap box to level and settle. Do not firm. Plant seeds on the surface and cover with a thin layer of compost. Water well. Seedlings are delicate and germinate best in an open textured material where both air and moisture are present and from which they can be removed with least risk of root damage. In the early stages of this growth a humid atmosphere is advantageous and this can be achieved in a propagator or by covering with polythene. No feeding is necessary.
Pricking out Seedlings and Cuttings: Fill trays and strike off level. Tap several times to firm compost. Make a hole sufficient to accommodate the cutting or seedlings root with a pencil or pen and insert the cutting or seedling. Firm the compost lightly around the roots. Always handle cuttings or seedlings by their leaves never by the stem. Water well. No feeding is necessary. Again a humid atmosphere is advantageous.
Potting and Potting On: Once plants are well established and growing vigorously they can be potted singly or planted out. When replanting try to avoid root disturbance by transplanting both the roots and their immediate compost. When growing plants purely in pots or containers ensure you keep them well watered and after 6 to 10 weeks start to feed with a sprinkling of Super Dug Extra.
Autumn Gold – How to use
Autumn Gold is a complex blend of composted farmyard manures, sugars, high potash fertilizer and light young peat and is suitable for application to all types of flowering and fruiting plants and shrubs including lime-hating species such as Rhododendrons and Azaleas.
Top Dressing & Mulching: Use on beds and borders at an overall rate of approx. 2-3 kilograms per square metre (4 to 6 lbs per square yard) and lightly work into the top 5 centimetres (two inches) of soil. Apply as a mulch up to one inch deep around individual plants according to size.
Autumn Gold will promote flowering and increase longevity particularly in the Autumn months and is ideal to use to help protect delicate species from early frosts.
Spring Green – How to use
Top Dressing & Mulching: Use Spring Green to top dress beds and borders in spring at a rate of approx 2-3 kg per square metre (4 to 6 lbs per square yard) and lightly work into the top 5 centimetres (two inches) of soil. Apply as a mulch up to one inch deep around individual plants according to size.
When used as a dressing Spring Green will increase the humus level and restore fertility to tired soils.
When used as a mulch Spring Green will increase resistance to Spring frosts and encourage early flowering.
Lawns: Use on lawns throughout the year (ideally after the last frosts at the start of the year and before the last cut of the year). Use approx. 1-2 kg per square metre (2 to 4 lbs per square yard) and rake or brush into the lawn surface. Forking or tyning the lawn before or during application will improve uptake and performance. The high nitrogen fertilizers present in Spring Green will promote lush green growth and the iron compounds present not only enhance this effect but also act as a completely safe suppressant of most broad leaf weeds.