Best Supplier Of Compost 2021

I dont get the moan about lumps.
If you want seed sowing compost then buy seed compost.


Having said that, I dont really find a problem with some lumps when seed sowing to be honest.
Even when sowing some dust like seed its not that difficult to pass some through your hands as you only need small amounts.

Most veggie seed is big enough to push past a few lumps, it would have to if you were direct sowing.

 

That depends, if we are to say what % is used by the retail sector compared to the commercial sector, then it is the retail sector that uses the biggest %. But my definition of amateur is someone who is a keen all the year round gardener and will grow from seed, prick out etc etc. Then the amount of peat you will use including the semi professionals and the showing for growing sector will be minimal. An amateur is classed as someone who is interested or enjoys something.

So for me buying ready made hanging baskets or planters full of bedding and patio plants is retail, not amateur.
There are 2 bedding plant growers less than 10 miles from me, one of them has glasshouses covering 19acre, that's 5 times the area size of me and probably bigger than the 5 local garden centres in a 20 mile radius from me.

Peat, better the devil you know? Or the one you don’t?

 

It is fact that the lumps are so dry they are like concrete that bothers me @pete. They might as well be stones. To me you should be able to use the vast majority of bought in compost I had to throw maybe 15% of the last lot of JM on my leaf mould heap. Yes in time the lumps will get hydrated enough to become soft again but I bought the compost to use now!
I take your point @gks. I used to live in The Clyde Valley with acre upon acre of various commercial greenhouses. One was absolutely huge and mainly grew potted Cyclamen for the Christmas market. No doubt most end up in the bin by February!

 

It not just the lumps, but the large pieces of fibre. Sow seeds with that in the compost and the seedlings will have their roots all tangled up with it causing loads of damage when attempting to seperate them when pricking out.

Jack's Magic is for seed sowing (plus it also mentions on the bag about pricking out seedlings from it).





But it contains these fibres (plus loads of hard lumps).

 

OK, so it says it on the bag and it probably is ok for sowing seeds maybe larger seeds.
If you dont like it because you have tiny seeds to sow you either sieve it, as you have done, or buy some seed sowing compost.

The word multi purpose has to cover a lot of things, including potting on larger plants, where the lumps just dont matter, and can become an advantage.

I add different things like sand etc, to multipurpose because I dont think it is, actually, multipurpose, but that is my choice.

 

Jack's Magic used to be much finer.

I brought back half a bag of Jacks Magic back from my plot that was bought earlier this year and sieved 10L of it for comparison with my earlier test on the lumpy stuff.

There were no hard lumps and only a very small amount of ( much shorter) fibres. Westland have obviously recently changed their screening process to allow a load of rubbish to go through into Jack's Magic, presumably to save money.

It will require sieving for sowing any seeds that need transplanting after germinating. They have ruined it as a seed compost to save pennies.

What 10L used to contain:



What 10L now contains:

 

I have never seen a bag of Jack's magic or Wickes compost, let alone the contents. I had to google Wickes to see if we actually have a store in Cumbria, we have one, it would be a hundred mile round trip for me.
In general the small independent G/C's near me have always stocked the Humax brand. Humax was took over by Scott's group (Miracle Gro) but is now owned by ICL. There has been no Humax compost this year, I don't know if it has been discontinued but there is certainly nothing in our county or the North East where they had many stockists. I know one of the local G/C's has now started stocking Gro-sure, with the other stocking Durstons with both posting on FB they wouldn't be stocking the usual Humax brand. There are 2 B&M stores with only one of them stocking compost, Gro-sure. Wilko is probably the only stockist near me who are selling 50L Miracle Gro, along with their own brand. Then there is Morrison's who are selling Richmoor, which is manufactured by "White Moss" which is based in Liverpool and then there is B&Q which is mainly the verve brand.

 

Got it sorted

1)Soak the lumps in water for half a day minimum to rehydrate





2)Pour through sieve (or mushroom crate) to drain.

3)Tip out on patio and crush with sledgehammer.

4)Scoop up back into sieve/crate and work like crazy trying to break them up and push through holes. I managed to get about 75% of the lumps through.




5) Repeat until all lumps broken up.

6)Replace any broken patio slabs.

 

I’d send the patio repair bill to Westland

 

I've never ever seen a bag of Humex compost maybe its not sold down here.
I bought Richmoor from a little garden centre years ago and I swear it contained weedkiller, nothing grew in it, they just stood still, I've never seen it since.

 

The trouble is that branded MPCs already appear to be already constantly changing their ingredients and this is only going to get worse as they start including all sorts of stuff to replace peat.

I've only got 1,640L of MPC stashed at home for a few things this year and the beginning of next year, so might put some proven compost in my more remote tunnels when they're clear of this season's crops.

 

I agree, they will do anything to increase footfall. I think Nicholas Marshall who had been a CEO at both Dobbies and Wyevale, said they were "giftware emporiums with plants on the side", compared to a traditional G/C. Interesting that the likes of these chains are focusing more on the catering side and installing softball areas to increase growth and profit margins. Some of these big G/C's chains see the catering side as the way forward as a business model, they say 25% of a large G/C's revenue now comes from catering. It would be interesting to see the breakdown of what sector these large G/C'S revenue comes from. My bet, plants & compost will be well down the list.

 

Maybe they should stop calling themselves garden centres and come up with a new one, "home recreational facilities", might be good.