You only need grit if the soil is heavy clay - if the borders are currently empty of plants, now's the best time to put in anything humus rich you can get hold of, so soil conditioning compost from the garden centre at the very least.

I would. I would give each plant a hole with plenty of new compost and also add some blood, fish and bone to the hole too to give them the best possible start.

Interesting - I'd broadcast the humus rich stuff over the top, plus some Vitax Q4, then dig it in a bit, relevel and then plant - using a bit of multi purpose maybe in each hole, with the blood fish and bone.

Your replies are just what I was considering doing, Bamboo and Inverglen. The gardener mentioned that we have good soil here but I still felt it would need some 'extras'....

I have blood/fish/bone here so will add that and I also have some bags of multi-purpose compost for individual planting. I'm not familiar with Vitax Q4 so will google that. Ta muchly for your advice, kindly appreciated.

you could use Growmore if you have that instead of Vitax, but the Vitax is better because it contains trace elements.

Thanks, Bamboo....I'll have a lookout for the Vitax first...I have seen the Growmore in a lot of places too.

Our garden does not do too badly and I have never added fertiliser to a planting hole yet.