Did anyone switch to peat free last year?

VermiCompost 40 Litre Bag - - www.hedgenursery.co.uk



mix some vermicompost with your normal compost, and some topsoil from your garden ....

add some well rotted organic farmyard manure and a bit of bonemeal ...

and if you are planting a shrub/tree that needs good drainage, add some perlite

 

The RHS had trial a year or two back and the best results were using peat based , years ago before the days of time dident they make John Innes using REAL loam where thay stacked the turves and the resulting loam had a good supply of fiber stucture , might be mistaken but Ithought they dident use peat then

 

I need to get the best possible results from my seeds,cuttings and plants.
Things are difficult enough as it is with pests, disease,weather and human error, so for me, after trying peat free compost with poor results I will continue with peat based mixed with my own home made compost to keep costs down.
It's a beautiful sight ,a greenhouse and garden full of healthy plants,peat dependant.
So for me until we have a perfect substitute it,s peat based for me.
Any way it all gets put back into the soil,so what's the problem?

 

£30 gets you a tonne of reclaim organic soil conditioner (the stuff made from the green/brown bins)

 

this is what I will be doing this year for the nicer plants that I will be planting in new landscape jobs (palms, musa etc)

15% worm compost (vermicompost)...
15% well rotted farmyard organic manure,
20% John Innes #3 compost,
20% topsoil from the hole that I have dug
20% perlite
10% rock dust

and a handful of blood/bone/fishmeal ... and, will add rootgrow where the bottom of the roots sit when planted

then, afer a month, i will water once a month during the growing season with a bit of homemade compost tea

 

Hi Stumorphmac,
Way back when home mixed, they did use peat in John Innes 'formula' potting compost . It was 7 parts loam 3 parts spagnam moss peat 2 parts sharp sand plus required fertilizers, the loam would have been staked turf sieved ,which would have a good fibre content rather than just garden soil...Seed and cutting composts have a different ratio....Have mixed many tons before the use of peat based composts.
If we had the facilities to stake turf the results would be well worth it..
Again only my opinion .

Dave

 

Hi *Dim*
Not so sure your mix would be good as a potting compost for seedlings etc? probably ok when planting shrubs etc..