COMPOST REVIEW 2013

Hi Marley

That is expensive plus P&P .

Spruce

 

send me £20 and I will send you some compost

 

Hi Marley - I think J Arthur Bowers compost could be added to Loofahs poll , its pretty well available in all areas .

 

Just rummaged and found my 25/03/2012 post :
Grandiol 20ltr bag @ 99p from Lidyls . I will be looking out for that stuff again this year,
Jenny

 

I got that too last year and it was excellent, dark and crumbly smelt good and produced well Grandiol

Jack McH

 

It makes me wonder if there is any quality control at all. You would have thought they would have some sort of machine or what not that sieves out the large lumps of wood, twigs, plastic, glass etc, at least we have something to work with.
I went down our local council tip Thursday and as expected the pile of garden refuge was not very big. However what I did notice that the pile was full of ripped green bags it comes in. Now I know they employ someone to empty each bag so why not put bags to one side rather than rip them up and put in pile.

I am sure it has been mentioned somewhere but cannot find the thread but when we buy these bags of (peat free) compost what if anything can we put with the compost to improve either texture or more important the condition of compost. I am sure I read somewhere to mix in some rotted manure, are there any other soil (compost) improvers we can use??
Peter

 

I bought a bag of J Arthur Bowers MPC last week , my local GC sells 4 x 50 litre bags for £12 (6p a litre ) It seemed good quality, no sticks and bits of plastic in it , but it smelt very farmyard manurey . ..may have been last years stock... hope its OK.
Bought a bag of B n Q Verve MPC yesterday ,from what looked like a new pallet , 3 x 60 litre bags £10 ( 5.6p a litre ) now this was lovely stuff A nice brown colour with an even texture , no twigs or other debris in it.
Just need a report on Wickes 2013 MPC now............

 

Whatever you do Harry, don't use the Verve for indoor plants, I made this mistake last year. B & Q hadn't screened the compost and it hosts fungus gnats which I'm still having a battle with. Hopefull though this years supply will be okay.

 

Hi Sheal , I had never heard of blooming fungus gnats until last year ! Whatever compost I used indoors had plenty of the boogers . I use the window type insect killer seems to keep them down.

 

Not sure if it's correct but I heard at garden lecture that peat is officially banned soon. I too have found that all peat free is too coarse for growing seedlings in, so not sure what we do then :(

 

I bought some Verve MP a few weeks back, and on the face of it, it seems ok. Yes, a few lumpy bits, but nothing outrageous, and easy to get rid of with a sieve. Given that others are having problems with it, maybe B&Q have more than one source?