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Sieving compost
Posted by: Pippa Greenwood, 07 February 2008, 11.09AM
Like many gardeners at this time of year, I can normally be found in the garden with my head in a bag of compost. I'm not hiding from the taxman, or even two noisy kids - I'm just trying to get some seeds sown.
Sowing seeds is a task that should be relaxing and fill me with feelings of excitement and satisfaction. And how could it not? I'm literally sowing the seeds of great things to eat and to look at. Sadly I'm finding the task increasingly irritating.
The seeds are as good quality as ever and the trays are well used and very efficient. Even my ancient propagator works well, although it's in much need of a new lid as the plastic is badly cracked and discoloured.
It is the COMPOST that infuriates me.
I know the price of compost goes down, sometimes year-on-year (although the bag size of many types has also decreased slightly too), but is it me, or am I right in feeling that the compost itself is getting lumpier and lumpier?
More and more sizeable lumps of partially-composted wood clutter up the bags of compost, and on two occasions I even found two pieces of glass. Yes, I own a compost sieve and no, I'm not necessarily talking about composts based on recycled materials. But although I can and do use the sieve, and my son's fingers' were not actually cut when his small hand came across the glass, I just wish that compost quality had not declined so much and so quickly. I even sieve out the chunks of wood and use them for drainage in the bottom of pots, but that is not the point!
Comments
jennyhewitt
07 February 2008, 04.35PM
puschkins
07 February 2008, 06.57PM
Pippa
08 February 2008, 05.20PM
KarenT
11 February 2008, 08.24PM
Starlight
12 February 2008, 04.34AM
Angie
12 February 2008, 02.34PM
azz
15 February 2008, 01.30PM
neil bryant
15 February 2008, 03.46PM
neil bryant
15 February 2008, 03.46PM
Eileen
01 January 2007, 12.00AM
Pippa greenwood
11 March 2008, 12.14PM
Kate, gardenersworld.com - reply to Mick
31 March 2008, 05.06PM
Roger
03 May 2008, 02.13PM
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