Wickes GP compost 2012

One of the reasons I liked the Wickes stuff was the size of the bag. I could actually carry it! For a short distance anyway. The 125 ltr B&Q ones are just too heavy to lift so I end up dragging them!

 

A big thanks for the tip-off about Wickes compost everybody who's posted about it, because I was about to buy loads of it and use some £5 off £25 vouchers. So today I checked the contents of a damaged bag and found the woody stuff is now everywhere:



So I wont be buying from Wickes any more. The best/cheapest (only) I could find without wood splinters in was at B&Q, where the cheapest buying option of 3 x 60 litre bags for £10 works out at 5.6p/litre (or 5p if accompanied by somebody with an over 60's discount card) which compares favourably with Wicks compost @ 4.6p/litre if buying 4 x 70l for £13.

This is what B&Q's stuff looked like - it appeared OK to me. If any body's bought some that's got the woody bits in please let me know before I do a big shop on Wednesday. It also has "Which Best Buy" on it - anybody read the report?:





P.S. I also looked at Homebase and theirs was full of wood.

 

I've used the B&Q stuff for years - including three 60L bags which I've bought within the past few days. Always been happy with it (although I'm not an expert in these things, but it's nice and crumbly without the woody bits).

Link to an article about the report here , although it's from 2010 so don't know if it's changed since then.

 

When I bust the clumps up in my greenhouse it always attracts this gaggle of volunteer 'helpers'.

 

J Arthur Bowers Multi Purpose Potting Compost with added John Innes"

many are saying that this years batch is pretty good ... I have not tried it yet ... some are saying that Morrisons have them in stock ... it's the compost in the pink bag

 

I used to be a big fan of Westland MP Compost with added J.I. for many years until it looked as if they'd mixed it with the waste arising from stump grinding, but I'll look out for a leaky bag of the JAB stuff to check out what's inside.

Here's a couple I've added to my list of ones to avoid:

Westland Light MP compost - it looks like something shovelled up from underneath some beech trees:



Homebase MP - full of shredded wood:

 

from what I have found over the past 3 years, is that the compost quality varies year by year for the same brands .... from what I have read on other forums, this year's Westland MP Compost with added J.I is the best (so far)

one year, a particular brand will be good, and the following year, the very same brand is completely different .... I am led to believe that the quality also varies in different areas

I have been using John Innes #3 which has been consistent over the past 3 years, but it needs to be mixed with other stuff such as perlite, manure, topsoil etc

I have now switched to more specialist composts such as Biobizz all mix and will try Plagron bat grow this weekend .... a lot pricier, but has perlite, worm humis, and pre-mix (which has the fungi etc added) ....

add the cost of buying bags of the additives and mixing it in, and it works out similar to the price you pay per bag off the shelf

Plagron Bat mix has bat manure added and is supposed to be very 'rich' ....

but saying that, I only use compost for planting shrubs and plants into the ground, so I don't use as much as some of the other people here ... I have also started mixing a bit of worm humis (vermicastings) into the compost that I use

 

Checked my bags from Wickes and they are 75 litre so probably last years stock...??

No one has mentioned Asda's compost, they're selling at 3 bags for £10 I think??, I got a bag last year and it seemed ok..

 

I used the Westland stuff for 'best' and Wickes as 'second best' for approx 10 years (maybe more?) without any apparent change in composition whatsoever. It's only seems to be in the last couple of years or so that composts' quality can change from one year to the next, and I'm starting to get hacked off with having to re-trawl all the garden centres checking out all their composts every flipping year to find something of acceptable quality/cost.

This compost business has now overtaken the changing of the formula for Sosmix for what I consider the worst crime of this century.

 

one the of large Garden centres in Cambridge sell loads of different brands of compost ...

they always have a full bag of each, opened for people to check .... I wish more garden centres would do the same

 

I never fail to laugh every time I visit a local, large independent garden centre. In the outdoor compost area near the checkouts they have a cubic metre of 'quality' topsoil which is absolutely full of weeds. I've pointed it out to a member if staff twice and nothing's been ever done about it. I'm tempted to make a sign saying 'Tool Test Area' and stick that and a few hand tools in the bag for a laugh.

 

So the jury is out on Wickes v B and Q v Asda . Luckily for me they are all on the same retail park about 3 miles from me.
One question, how do they make multi purpose compost on the mega industrial scale that they must use to supply the home garden market To get the raw material, process it and maintain a good quality control must be a nightmare - does anyone know how it works ?
(Birds are still tweeting outside at quarter to seven , thats nice !! )