COMPOST REVIEW 2013

I have just bough 3 more bags of B and Q MPC , seems fine to me . I going to stick with it all year now 3 x 60 Litre bags for £12 , less 10% if you are over 60 , or the better value but backbreaking 125 Litre bag for £5.98 .

 

There's something rather screwy with B&Q's pricing of smaller bags, as 12 litre bags are more expensive than 20 litre bags http://www.diy.com/nav/garden/garden-care-watering/compost-sand-bark/multi_purpose_compost




Those 125 litre bags seem like they might be the cheapest around at less than 5p/litre.

 

Thanks for that Scrungee,
Jenny

 

Here is a photo of the B n Q Verve MPC , it has odd small twigs in it and one or two pieces of plastic , but it looks and feels very good and does not smell like the JAB I bought in Feb. The only thing with B n Q being so big I wonder if the MPC is supplied by the same producer ?

 

Looks pretty good to me ,
thanks Harry
Jenny

 

I've recently used a bag of B&Q Verve MPC that was purchased last year so had a look at what was coming out of a torn bag at B&Q this morning and the quality has really deteriorated with loads of lumps and bits of twig in it so I would not consider using it for seed sowing.



And this is the Verve MPC I bought last year

 

I also called into Wickes this morning.

A couple of months ago I saw they had put 75 litre bags on sale, but nobody knew if they were different to the rubbishy stuff in 70 litre bags they introduced last year http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/threads/wickes-gp-compost-2012.41330/page-9#post-633906 so was surprised to see loads of pallets of (old?)70 litre compost for sale (4 for £10) and the only (new) 75 litre bags were up on the high level racking.

And it gets even more confusing! When I check online for stock at the store I visited it's shown as being completely out of stock. This whole business of Wickes compost gets a bigger and bigger shambles. http://www.wickes.co.uk/multi-purpose-compost-70l/invt/200246/

 

I am happy with my Verve Multi purpose , looks great hardly any lumps very peaty , so probably get some more .

Spruce

 

Hi, ok will forget the Homebase compost then. Will get a bag of BQ compost to try out

 

Sorry Harry, I picked up a 125 litre bag on Thursday for £4.98 with the 10% discount. I haven't opened it yet though.

Edit: I think I mis-read your post, I presume you mean £5.98 before discount?

 

I just stick to the 60 litre bags , the 125 litre are a bit of a handful . We only get the 10% discount on a Wednesday at B n Q . Does the IOM get preferential treatment

 

Yes we do Harry, we can use our discount cards Monday to Friday but not weekends. I think it's two years now we have been allowed this. It was started here as a trial but B & Q decided to make it permanent. It might seem like preferential treatment but there are items not available to us here, so I suppose it was a way to offset that.

B & Q was founded here on the island.

 

I opened my new bag of Verve multi-purpose compost today and the consistency hasn't changed. I'm yet to find out whether it contains fungal gnats like last years supply. I've been using B & Q's compost for many years and although it isn't as fine as it was a few years ago, I still wouldn't use anything else for seeds and seedlings.

Scrungee, I think you may have drawn a short straw with the bag you looked at, there's not a lot wrong with this.

 

Sheal
I have just found one fungal gnat in my propagator , which are home to my caladiums , and two trays of seed and yes its the Verve Multi-purpose Compost just bought two weeks ago , it may be the odd one ?? but unless it was a red devil jet and flew in when the lid was off which wasnt for long I hope not.

I should of heated the compost up 1st .

I read in Peter Seabrooks gardening column that you can get a stick (poke in the compost) that has pesticide impregnated which last for 6 weeks and also kills the fungal gnat , but I dont know the name of it to get hole of it ? I will have a good look tomorrow and see if any more are lurking about I hope not.

Spruce