BEST SUPPLIER OF COMPOST 2018

You may well laugh but I have had exactly the same problems as @Scrungee with seedlings not wanting to root down into that compost for weeks when I have pricked them out,and they just sat in the top of the pots without doing anything.I blamed it on lack of heat,light,water,compost anything you could think of and it was starting to get me fed up as I needed to get these plants growing on as time was getting on and they needed to be put out into the ground and established before we went off trekking

In the end I had a chat with Mr Kandy and we went down to B&Q and paid a bit more for some Levingtons Multi purpose compost with which I repotted up all the seedlings of both veggies and flowering plants and within a week they had took off and never looked back.

So as not to waste the other compost I mixed it with the Levingtons compost although I made sure the Levingtons was a higher percentage in each bucketful I made up.

I have never bought any Verve since then and can only assume it had some contaminant in it that affected my seedlings,but what do I know

 

Wickes ? Verve ?
Ohhh , it's only the second of January , and the MPC panic quandary is setting in already !

 

And folks, Wilko are starting to stock their shelves with compost plus a display of seeds, so Xmas is really over

 

I've not been happy with B&Q's Verve in recent years. It's not properly screened and I believe there are less nutrients in it now. Like @Kandy seedlings just don't seem to have the same growth.

This year I will probably try Wickes for the first time, but is it any good for starting off seeds/seedlings please?

 

I'm going to Wilkos today for our Easter eggs

 

Wickes MPC is £5.69 for 70L and buy 4 get 1 free, buying 4 bags/280L costs £17.07 or 6.1p/litre

B&Q Verve MPC is £6.93 for 125L or 5.5p/litre


But as I don't rate either of those, I checked out some other stuff at my local Bunnings this morning (NB I've found Bunnings stores to be cheaper than Homebase!).

Jacks Magic £4.98 for 60L or 8.3p/litre

J. Arthur Bowers MPC £7.18 for 120L or 6p/L


I think that I'll make a mix of those 2, probably also with some of my stockpile of reduced J.I., getting the overall cost down to about 6.5p/litre.

 

I won't be going to Wilko's for Easter eggs or compost, it's 170 miles away.

 

The only bagged compost I will use is Jacks Magic. I prefer to mix my own using different ingredients for different jobs...always including peat.

 

55 x 60L Bags of Jacks Magic delivered on a pallet for £220 + £15 delivery, only £4.27 per 60L bag or 7.1p/litre!

Jack's Magic Compost 60lt - Full Pallet | Garden Store Online

Cor, it even comes complete with free firewood:

 

They sell Jacks Magic at my local garden centre , probably at top dollar. Is this stocked by any of the discounted suppliers ?

 

Westland Jacks Magic Compost - 60L at Homebase

Jacks Magic £6.97 at Homebase, £4.98 at Bunnings. Nearest store to @HarryS is probable Rochdale (60 mile round trip?). I try and find something close by that Mrs Scrungee is interested in before making trips like that and pass it off as a treat for her, then call in at a GC and fill the car with cheap bags of MPC, Rotted Manure, etc. on the way back. Mrs Scrungee's birthday treat one year was free tea and cake at MK John Lewis, followed by loading up with reduced JM at Homebase on the way back

Looking around my nearest Bunnings I've noticed loads of items cheaper than Homebase, plus they've got a much bigger selection of products inside, although I wasn't convinced about the need for so much BBQ stuff at this time of year, guess that must be influenced by their new owners.