We have crusher run in the driveway and a concrete paver walkway to the front door about 12' long. Gravel sometimes sticks in shoe treads, and the crusher run still manages to migrate a bit into the house, though since we have outdoor and indoor mats to wipe shoes on and take off shoes at the kitchen door, it's not bad. I can't image anything on earth that would convince me it's a good idea to have gravel of any size as walkways in my veggie garden. It migrates, it's uncomfortable to walk on regardless of size if barefoot and larger sizes are uncomfortable even with shoes, and if you change your mind at some point in the future it's a royal pain to move or remove. I've had veggie gardens for more than 40 years (both raised bed and not), and my paths either had bare earth (quick and easy to maintain with a stirrup hoe AKA scuffle hoe) or an organic mulch such as wood shavings or bark mulch usually underlain with unprinted cardboard. I could see using large sized (24" x 24" or 18" x18") pavers to make walkways as they could be relatively quickly shifted if you wanted to change path layouts.

Kimmsr, this is essentially a composting forum, and EVERYONE here recognizes, nay, advocates the use of copious amounts of compost. I don't think anyone here is suggesting sand or silt can take the place of compost for amending clay. So you can stop beating us with that stick. It's not an either-or proposition, as illustrated beautifully by Albion's post. This is basically what I've done, although with less sand. I've added tons of organic matter to my clay over the years, and occasionally a bag of sand I come across or a wheelbarrow of river silt. I don't have concrete, I have raised beds with great soil. Either the high organic matter mitigates the 'concrete' effect, or I never added enough pure sand to get into the concrete zone, or I also added enough silt (or it was there in the silty clay to begin with), that I now have loam and not sandy clay. I never went out to buy sand for the specific purpose of amending the clay, and I wouldn't necessarily advocate that, but there are some success stories right here. I would say that if you add enough compost to eventually fluff the beds into raised beds, that mitigates many of the problems with clay, so you don't really need massive amounts of sand.

Ox - I was doing some research, using the search function, when I came upon this thread and realized as I scrolled to the end that I never answered your question. Just saying that you use MG isn't enough information. MG manufactures several soluble ratios. 20-20-20, 24-8-16, 12-4-8, 10-30-10, 10-52-10, 30-10-10 are all soluble MG products. The ones most fig growers are apt to reach fore are 24-8-16 (best choice) or 20-20-20. Your assertion that you would be over-applying P is correct if you are using anything but 24-8-16, 12-4-8, or 30-10-10, and the latter is inappropriate for figs in containers because of its high N content in relation to the other macro-nutrients and it's acid reaction in the soil solution. If you ARE using either 24-8-16 or 12-4-8 (the same ratio - 24-8-16 simply contains more of the 3 primary macros by weight than 12-4-8) you are supplying P in almost exactly the correct ratio. The P in fertilizers is not reported as elemental P, instead, it's reported as P2O5 (phosphorous pentoxide - K is reported as K2O). To find out how much P is ACTUALLY in the soil, we need to use a factor of .43 for the middle number. When you multiply the P in 24-8-16, you get 8 x .43 = 3.5. Taking this 1 step further, and recalling that upthread I said that plants use about 6X more N than P, dividing the amount of N in 24-8-16 by the actual amount of P (24/3.5 = 6.8) we find that MG 24-8-16 has 6.8 times as much N as P. The amount of K similarly follows the amount of K in relation to N as being provided in almost exactly the same ratio in which plants use them. Some would have you believe there was no thought that went into deciding on the ratio fertilizer manufacturers chose as their 'all-purpose' fertilizer, but from these quick calculations you can see that they provide nutrients in as close to the ratio plants use as you'll find in any commercially available fertilizer. It was no accident. Now your questions about fertilizer phosphate: The phosphate in fertilizers is initially quite soluble and available. Most phosphate fertilizers have been manufactured by treating rock phosphate (the phosphate-bearing mineral that is mined) with an acid to make it more soluble. When the fertilizer or manure phosphate comes in contact with the soil, various reactions begin occurring that make the phosphate less soluble and less available. The rates and products of these reactions are dependent on such soil conditions as pH, moisture content, temperature, and the minerals already present in the soil. This chance to an insoluble form is MUCH less prevalent in container soils because of their relatively low bulk density and high organic content. As a particle of fertilizer comes in contact with the soil, moisture from the soil will begin dissolving the particle. Dissolving of the fertilizer increases the soluble phosphate in the soil solution around the particle and allows the dissolved phosphate to move a short distance away from the fertilizer particle. Movement is slow but may be increased by rainfall or irrigation water flowing through the soil. As phosphate ions in solution slowly migrate away from the fertilizer particle, most of the phosphate will react with the minerals within the soil. (Again, this is in MINERAL soils, and not so much in container media.) Phosphate ions generally react by adsorbing to soil particles or by combining with other elements in the soil, forming compounds that are solids. The adsorbed phosphate and the newly formed solids are relatively available to meet crop needs. Gradually reactions occur in which the adsorbed phosphate and the easily dissolved compounds of phosphate form more insoluble compounds that cause the phosphate to be become fixed and unavailable. Over time this results in a decrease in soil test P. A general sequence of reactions in alkaline soils is the formation of several compounds that result in a decrease in solubility and availability of phosphate. Each of these reactions will results in very insoluble compounds of phosphate that are generally not available to plants. Adding to the active P pool through fertilization will also increase the amount of fixed P. Depleting the active pool through crop uptake may cause some of the fixed P to slowly become active P. The conversion of available P to fixed P is partially the reason for the low efficiency of P fertilizers. Most of the P fertilizer applied to the soil will not be utilized by the crop in the first season. Continued application of more P than the crops utilize increases the fertility of the soil, but much of the added P becomes fixed and unavailable. An important aspect of the ability of a soil to hold phosphate is that a soil cannot hold increasing amounts of phosphate in the solid phase without also increasing soil solution phosphate, so there is sort of a threshold. Increased amounts of phosphate in solution will potentially cause more phosphate to be lost to leaching through the soil - especially in container soils, another very good reason not to over-apply P. You asked: "If we water to the point that our pots drain, would it be wise at some point to simply provide nitrogen alone?" I would give a qualified 'NO' to that question. For us hobby growers, I don't think it's ever a good idea to provide singular elements as a fertilizer unless it's part of a well-conceived plan. When you start second guessing what you're seeing in your plants ...... well, even the experts are often fooled and misdiagnose deficiencies and related problems. We might see yellowing leaves caused by a high level of soluble salts in the soil or over-watering and conclude the plants need N, which only exacerbates the issue. I don't think it is reasonable to apply urea and wait for other deficiencies to be revealed. I think that if you are absolutely sure that all other nutrients are in the soil at adequate levels and in the right ratio and N is the only element shown to be deficient, then applying urea would be the correct thing to do, but absent that knowledge, I would stick tightly to using a 3:1:2 ratio fertilizer and flushing the soil regularly so that ratio in the soil solution isn't skewed by accumulating salts. If you CAN'T flush the soil regularly w/o risking root rot, I would take a hard look at my soil choice and switch to a soil that DOES allow you to water that copiously. Sorry I missed this, Ox .... and sorry for the length of the reply. ;o)

Let's look at the composition of rock phosphate. Google says: " 'Rock Phosphate' is a sedimentary rock composed of phosphate minerals, especially apatite. It is used directly in fertilizer and as a source of phosphorous compounds. Apatite includes 10 mineral species and has the general formula X5Y(PO4)3, where X is usually Ca2+ or Pb3+ and Y is F-, Cl-, or OH-. " Calcium fluoroapatite or calcium hydroxyapatite is likely what you're getting. It is very insoluble so it is slow acting. Acid will liberate phosphate as described in another article about making phosphate fertilizers: "The wet process involves treatment of the rock phosphate with acid producing phosphoric acid (also called green or black acid) and gypsum which is removed as a by-product. Either treatment process (wet or dry) produces orthophosphoric acid— the phosphate form that is taken up by plants. " The dry process, BTW, involves roasting in a furnace. What you'd be doing is basically like the wet process described here. So it would work, but the question is why you would need to do it? There are a lot of reasons not to. 1) Keep in mind phosphate generally binds to soil far more than K or the various forms of nitrogen. So you will get a flush of soluble phosphorus when you add your resulting solution to the soil, just like you would with soluble fertilizer, but it will eventually stick to the soil just like slow release P would. Which brings up: 2) If you're not monitoring final pH and phosphorus content of the liquid, you can cause some serious problems for your plants. Finally, 3) Are your plants in need of phosphorus and is your soil deficient? Have you had it tested? If you have low P in your soil, add rock phosphate or bone meal and let it do its thing over time. I used bone meal in the late summer when my fruit trees were not blooming, and the next spring they bloomed. No messy bucket chemistry required. If you're having a phosphorus emergency with major plant symptoms, get some soluble fertilizer (and make sure your soil pH is in the right range first). I almost forgot: 4) compost should have plenty of P so if you add it over time, your soil will have all the P your plants need. I actually had to cut back after 20 years of compost additions because P got very high.