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Compost

CLERCLER Posts: 56

Well, it's the time of year when I get so impatient to start sowing and getting ready for this years vegetable and flower planting .....yes too early I know but the feeling is there every year !!!

I seemed to have a bad year last year with my compost - did anyone else ?

I wonder what your thoughts are on the best composts you have used for seeds , and potting on, are you fans of peat free or not?  Also anyone used coir pellets and did you like them?

Thanks for your thoughts

Posts

  • Hi image



    This question runs and runs, we all have different opinions, what are you using it for? For seed sowing i like to use a very open mix of mainly grit, horti sand and coir or multi purpose (only for the trickier seeds).

    If i had lots of money i would use carbon gold, i had a sample set from the organic gardening catalouge, it was wonderful stuff, but as i say, a little out of my price range image

    Not fond of lidil compost image
  • Peat free without a doubt. The uplands and bogs are a precious resource and need a break.

    I use the compost derived from wood products mixed with some perlite or the like. Works for me. I generally sieve it for seedlings.

  • TootlesTootles Posts: 1,469

    I tend to go for Murphys or Arthur J. Bower, but mainly based on price. I use so much of the stuff that I can't afford to go top notch. It comes in at about £20 for three bags.

    On the seed compost front, I splashed out on some John Innes Seed Compost. I've got to say, I just can't get the hang of it. It's lovely and 'thin' and gritty, but it always turns so heavy after a week or so. So much so that I don't think little seeds are able to break through the surface. I've tried watering from the top, and watering from underneath, and even using a spray to lightly water, but I get the same problem every time. Does anyone else?

  • Which? Gardening does an annual review of all composts. This year's best buy was verve multi-purpose peat free compost in 12 litre bags fom B'nq. (Other sizes are made by a different manufacturer, so may not be the same)

    Tootles, it's  probably not you!  John Innes is not a brand name, it's a formulation. Like any recipe, the quality of the end product depends on the quality of the ingredients, which varies from one supplier to another. Which? had two J I  composts as a 'Don't buy', none in the 'Best  buy' category for raising young plants.

  • AshdaleAshdale Posts: 149

    Last Christmas I was bought a variety of tomato seeds and coir pellets as a gift.  I had never tried the pellets before but I found them really easy to use and had great results.  So much so I have bought a larger quantity this year - a reusable tray and 45 pellets for £7.50 from Sarah Raven.  I couldn't find them any cheaper elsewhere on the Internet.

  • Last year I had seed compost from lidl, which was "ok" but rather hairy, but once you took out the hairy bits it was ok. i have read on here that lidl compost is dodgy this year so I wont be buying any. 

    I do quite like B&Q verve multi purpose compost, 125 litres for about £6. It works for me so I will probably stick with it. 

  • I agree, the pellets are really handy ...and fun to rehydrate! Maybe i need to get out more! image



    Im a fan of those coir bricks too, very good for seeds and really light so not hard to lump home from the shops on the bus image
  • Fruitcake i have to be fair to lidil, the compost i brought was years back, it killed all my seedlings! But would probably have been fine outdoors or with older plants image
  • The best compost to use is Levington Professional Compost F1 for seedlings. Any professional nursery with a retail outlet will sell it. Have also tried Humax Original Multi  purpose compost with great results

     

     

     

  • Jazza77Jazza77 Posts: 8

    i bought a compost from asda and it was absolutely awful, it dried out very quickly and just seemed like dust with little twigs in it

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