Your compost of choice this year?

[Tom2006]

Like everything, its all getting more expensive. I wish I could find a supplier of good compost. Might ring around my local nurseries. I've bought some Westlands this year. Although I'm avoiding pots this year as much as I can.

go to a local area that has a forest/large trees (not pine or acidic trees) .... dig up some topsoil... add a bit of perlite and it will be as good, (if not better) than any garden centre compost

I never thought of that. Although are we allowed to do it?

[Chad]

where can you get that good bark from chad?

Mine comes from Monro's.

The brand is Melcourt and their web site gives two distributors in West Yorkshire.

Chad.

[Freebird]

go to a local area that has a forest/large trees (not pine or acidic trees) .... dig up some topsoil... add a bit of perlite and it will be as good, (if not better) than any garden centre compost

........ and then pop down the beach for a few bags of sand aswell then ....I think not

[Dim]

go to a local area that has a forest/large trees (not pine or acidic trees) .... dig up some topsoil... add a bit of perlite and it will be as good, (if not better) than any garden centre compost

........ and then pop down the beach for a few bags of sand aswell then ....I think not

Nah ... I tried that ....

I took 5 one tonne builders bags of beach sand one evening on a secluded beach, but found that my vegetables prefered forest topsoil

[Mr List]

where can you get that good bark from chad?

Mine comes from Monro's.

The brand is Melcourt and their web site gives two distributors in West Yorkshire.

Chad.

cheers

[miketropic]

obviously we don't have the same brands as you do there but I am very amazed at how detailed some of those bags are..it has suggested PH and all that right on the front..to people in the US that doesn't matter so its not on there. I check PH myself after I mix up but that is really wonderful you have so many options. we basically have scotts potting mix, scotts garden mix ( same thing with more fert) topsoil (sand) and compost/manure. unless you go to a very good specialty store thats all you can get at the local places.

[JBALLY]

The range of different composts you can get in this country is quite good there are literally a hundred options if not a lot more but getting a good one at a convenient price is more about what people are talking about.

[flounder]

I don't think it matters too much which brand you buy, I don't like it too fibrous but we tend to 'doctor' it to suit our needs by adding more perlite/grit/sand etc. Thats why I tend to go for the cheapest....and I'm tight

[JBALLY]

You can get plants to grow in any compost but it is not until you grow the same plants side by side in different composts that you can notice the difference, it is finding a good all round compost that ticks as many boxes as possible. My go to brand used to be J aurthur bowers with added john innes until the consistency changed and the price went up, now I make my own version cheaper and better (using my new multi) and I can add more or less loam and added drainage if needed. When growing tomato plants in my greenhouse I used to use b & q multi but to fill 16 30ltr pots and it used a good bit of compost so when it changed last year and was not as good I made my own compost from my old lifted turf pile for loam, some sieved garden compost and some leaf mould and put the pots on big trays for watering as I usually do and even in last years poor summer the results were better than just using mutipurpose and I only used 1 bag of mutipurpose (my new brand) to put on top of my homemade just to root the young plants into the 30ltr pots until they grew into my mix.

[rajah99]

Lidl compost seems to be good stuff. Much better than the b&q rubbish.

[cordyman]

I started last season with a ‘multipurpose’ 'Verve' compost from B&G. It made no claims about peat in big letters, but there is a panel on the side saying it is 58% peat. It looked OK, and I potted on all sorts of things in the spring fever. It killed [not ‘things didn’t thrive’] almost everything that went into it. Already rooted dahlia cuttings and other ‘easy' stuff as well as some irreplaceable seedlings. It had to be the compost; other things potted on the same day in the end of last years bag [from a different supplier] did fine.

Replacement compost from another source has meant I haven’t had significant other losses through the season.

Here is what I have used this year.

First a picture of my hand and a three inch pot to get the scale.

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This is the B&G compost. It looked OK, with only a few small bits of plastic in it to suggest 'green waste' as a component. The potted up Dahlia were left to soak standing in 2cm of water and it didn’t moisten through; it needed watering in from above the next day.

2006_01252Jan0003small.JPG

This is the replacement peat based compost from a horticultural supplier. I had forgotten how good ‘proper’ compost felt and smelt! It is a little fine for a lot of things, but doesn’t need sieving for fiddly work.

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This is [for me] this year’s revelation. It is potting bark. I had tried some from B&Q [Verve again] and it was just shredded woody waste. This is an altogether different experience. It is very sharp draining, but mixed with the peat based compost at 1:2 of bark/peat base it is wonderful. It drains well; it distributes water through itself and is a joy to work with. On its own I have some orchids in it too.

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I have found it difficult to source a good loam based compost. Our local horticultural supplier offers this ‘John Innes’ compost. The ‘sharp grit’ seems to have become pea gravel [which adds useful weight but doesn’t do much for the drainage] and the ‘good quality loam’ may be clay subsoil! I wouldn’t want to use it on its own; but added at about one part in ten to the peat/bark mix it seems to slow down that final bit of drying out between things needing water and being dead; helps with re-wetting and the weight stops top heavy pots falling over. I think it is evening out the nutrient supply as well.

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This is ‘super course perlite’. For cuttings and seedlings I use it to lighten the peat based compost. Finer grades tend to turn to clay in my pots. This stuff keeps composts open, freely drained, well aerated, and is easily re-wetted. It is probably less environmentally sound than peat but I wouldn’t wish to garden without it. I'm paying £11.49 delivered if i'm putting a big order - or the same price if I collect it from the depot on its own. Monro's are wonderful if you live near them!

2006_01252Jan0007small.JPG

Gravel helps drainage and adds to weight, but unlike perlite doesn’t seem to help to pull moisture through the compost and doesn’t hold moisture on its own at all. It does add weight to pots though. In the right circumstances that is really useful. Hippeastrum fall over without grit in the pot, and smaller shrubs ‘growing on’ in pots outside are much more stable with a good addition of gravel to their mix. In Cornwall ‘Cornish grit’ is a waste product from the local granite quarries and is just what is needed. I think most of the cost is in transport for this; so I guess whatever stone is local would be what is used for ‘local grit’.

2006_01252Jan0008small.JPG

The final ‘bulk purchase’ of the year was a slow release fertiliser. I add it to the mix when I pot up and it makes up for me forgetting to put the in-line feeder on the hose. It has made a huge difference to things this year. I have far fewer yellow and struggling plants! I went for the longest acting one I could find – 18 months. For much of my stuff it should have been re-potted again soon after that.

2006_01252Jan0017small.JPG

Chad.

not had chance to recheck this thread, but great contribution! real compost factory youve got there

[cordyman]

I bought the B&Q Verve last year and it was not that good, but had to buy some this year in a hurry and the quality has improved. I buy perlite by 100 ltre bag for £20 delivered.

Do you have a link? I think I paid too much

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121055631015? ... 1497.l2648

Cordy,

This is the link to the seller on ebay. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/160817355013? ... 1439.l2649

The size is 1 to 6mm, and a fair proportion of it is at the large end, so is called supercoarse.

Interesting post Chad. Just checked and my Verve compost is also 58% but seems reasonable stuff and wets through from bottom soaking. Maybe if they use recycling material it is variable. I find it VERY moisture retentive, and would never use it on it's own. For Begonia I'm using about 20% sharp sand, 20% topsoil loam, 20% perlite with it.

Thanks what a great price!

[Dim]

The garden centre that I shop from in Cambridge (Scotsdales), always has a bag of every compost/manure open so that you can see what you are buying

I often read where people buy 20-50 (or more) large bags of compost without checking it first, then complain afterwards ... I'm sure that if you ask someone in the store to open a bag so that you can inspect before buying, they would

[JBALLY]

One reason I occasionally go into b & q from time to time is to have a quick scan of the compost bags as any slightly split ones get heavily discounted, a couple of weeks ago I came away with 2 bags of john innes no 3 and a bag of topsoil and a 125 ltr bag of verve multi for £8. It is worth having a quick scan for bargains if you are passing.

[RogerBacardy]

Bought some dreadful compost the other day. Hadn't broken down at all. It was chunky like bark chippings. Lots of woody plant stems. I had to tear the pieces up further to make it more like compost. Also had furry mould and there were small chunks of shredded plastic mixed in.

Worst compost ever - was J. Arthur Bowers Multi-Purpose Compost 56ltr