Home made compost

If its only a few bags worth try spreading it out & damping it, then when the weeds germinate, smash them all to bits

 

Collars on pots will work. If you use weed supressing membrane it will let water through and keep light out. We use it on potted fruit trees.
Microwaving compost/soil has been done on a large scale to good effect. I think it was a Russian project that I read about a couple of years ago but I've lost the link to the report.
Steaming works too. My grandfather and father used to do it with compost/soil in a bucket on top of the greenhouse boiler but they had solid fuel greenhouse boilers and free coal!

 

Hang on a minute, that's cooler than I baked my Christmas cake and nobody complained about sand and grit. Maybe they were just being polite?

Messy but fun. Probably reasonably effective once you've scraped it back off the garden.​

 

Eight bags-worth in pots? Have you got a large terrace or are the pots a nursery for a very large garden?

 

My garden is small but l do have a lot of potted stuff and I enjoy raising plants.
I use compost for sowing seeds and pricking out, potting up seedlings and much larger plants, replenishing/top-dressing large planters etc. I grow lilies in 12" pots (I usually have 15 to 20 of those on the go) and other tender plants are often potted, too. If I have dahlia tubers to start off in spring they need quite a big pot and lots of compost.

I've never actually counted but I estimate that I'd have to get several lots of 80 or 100l bags at various points during the season, costing around £50. Don't many people on here? So it's worth trying to make it go further.

 

I certainly do. I buy about 30 x 70L bags [of MPC] in the Autumn when they are on special offer, as I think the quality in Autumn is better than what is sold in Spring.

Harder to find a BOGOFF type deal in spring too, as there are plenty of walk-in customers for the sheds

 

My garden is small but l do have a lot of potted stuff and I enjoy raising plants.
I use compost for sowing seeds and pricking out, potting up seedlings and much larger plants, replenishing/top-dressing large planters etc. I grow lilies in 12" pots (I usually have 15 to 20 of those on the go) and other tender plants are often potted, too. If I have dahlia tubers to start off in spring they need quite a big pot and lots of compost.
Sounds very interesting Madahhlia - any chance of a piccie or two this Summer? Jenny

 

I did think it might be about 450 degrees. I certainly wouldn't want it to get that hot. If all the organic content burnt away there wouldn't be a lot left!

I want to get rid of the seeds but it seems a shame to get rid of all the friendly bacteria too, I don't believe in things being too sterile. But I guess you can't get rid of one but not the other.

Could be tricky to sterilise in a large bin as it would be damp and the outside might burn before the inside comes up to temperature.

If you're in Leicester the second weekend of June I'm taking part in an Open Studio featuring the garden!

 

I've had a similar problem with the compost that I inherited when I moved in. No good for seed compost, but as far as pot plants go I just remove the seedlings as they emerge.

 

I usually make a couple of batches of home made compost each year and it's true that weed seedlings can be a nuisance. If it's any help, I can offer the following though.

I used to store the compost in old empty 40lt compost bags, but found it awkward to move around so I've tried using black plastic dustbins with a few small holes drilled at the top and bottom to allow the compost to breathe. These are kept in the greenhouse.

This means that the compost warms up very quickly in the spring and whenever I take the lid off the dustbins I notice this warmth has encouraged some weed seeds to germinate. So, a quick stir round of the top few inches of the compost is enough to get rid of that particular batch of weeds.

The other thing which often happens is that the bins get invaded by ants. While this can be a nuisance (especially when potting up), over a period of time the ants actually do an excellent job of thoroughly sifting the compost, breaking it down to a much finer consistency.

Now I remember reading somewhere that ants are apparently great harvesters and storers of seeds, often being the main culprit in cases of poor germination and I have to say, the compost which has had the 'ant treatment' does appear to produce less weed seedlings. Food for thought!

 

Great tip, I like the bin idea. I could also use it to make mixes readily and store bought compost.