[rowlandwells]

I've started to look at what we mite be paying for composts this year I went online and prices vary from around £6.50 upwards for 40LTR to 60 LTR so basically for those of you that buy there composts through an allotment society or other outlets it could give me some idea of what to expect to pay for a bag of compost and what you rate as a best buy including quality and price any replies would be most welcome RW

[GraciesGran]

The allotment shop has sylvagrow for £8.50, I think its 50 litres.  Sinclair is £12.85 for 75 litres.  We also do clover but that's a special order for one plot holder. We've gone peat free where possible although it's not necessarily been a popular decision.

[rowlandwells]

I tend to agree with your comments  GraciesGran I'm definitely not using peat free for the sake of it or to be told by other bods in need to use to protect one thing or another and apart from the quality of peat free and peat based cost does come into play because we are paying £17.00 for 3 60LTR bags of clover M/P that I think is good value and its good compost for both seeding and potting on  so why should I change to something that's not up to my standards ?

[Snow]

I got reduced compost from morrisons last November . was £3 for 40l ? of new horizon, so I bought quite a few bags, and i also picked up some of their 70l bales of coir for £2.50 each. I'll need to add compost, fertilizer and perlite or vermiculite to that to make it useable but its a good price for it and is a good replacement for peat based composts

The allotment forum here sells sylvagrow 40l for £12.50 which is just too much for me.

Covid era peat free really was the worst, but I think it got a bit better last year, I had bowers, Jack's magic and new horizon last year and it was all useable. The premium stuff like sylvagrow and dalefoot is very good when I've bought them in the past.

[rowlandwells]

I'm not really one for adding this and that for making compost as I've said in the past is all I want is a bag of good quality M/P compost at a competitive price not had good feed back from those using coir as they say it tends to dry out quick more than peat based ?

[coldandwindy]

Has anyone tried Miracle gro peat free?
I saw some for sale & notice it's a lot cheaper than the original m.g, which I like.

[rowlandwells]

when we went to Dobies the other day and  I noticed they where selling compost at £3.00 a bag I don't know what brand it was  I was going to buy a bag but it was so cold that day it had frozen the bags together on the pallet so I didn't buy any but if its there  when we go again I'm going to buy a bag just to see what its like

[AnneB]

If you are near an RHS garden they currently have Sylvagrow peat free multipurpose 40l bags on a special offer, 4 bags for the price of 3.  Works out at £7 a bag.

[rowlandwells]

that price is still higher than I'm paying now AnneB 3 bags of 60ltr for £17.00 quid  probably this will rise when they get new stock in so we really need to shop around for the best compost for both quality and price some compost manufacturers are calling for standard regulations to ensure basically a standard of quality composts is sold to the home gardener said to be named [RSS] responsible sourcing scheme as reported in Which garden mag February issue

[AnneB]

I visited our local trade supplier this week to get prices for our allotment.   We give each tenant 2 free bags of compost each year but buy more to sell to recoup some of our costs.   We are too small to have an allotment shop in the usual sense.
This year we have chosen to buy Miracle Gro peat free in 50l bags.   We will be selling this on to our tenants for around £7 a bag, which is cheaper than B&Q who are selling it for £8.   We will make a small amount of profit on each bag after delivery costs are taken into account.

[coldandwindy]

I visited our local trade supplier this week to get prices for our allotment.   We give each tenant 2 free bags of compost each year but buy more to sell to recoup some of our costs.   We are too small to have an allotment shop in the usual sense.
This year we have chosen to buy Miracle Gro peat free in 50l bags.   We will be selling this on to our tenants for around £7 a bag, which is cheaper than B&Q who are selling it for £8.   We will make a small amount of profit on each bag after delivery costs are taken into account.

Have you used the Mg peat free before AnneB ?

[AnneB]

I visited our local trade supplier this week to get prices for our allotment.   We give each tenant 2 free bags of compost each year but buy more to sell to recoup some of our costs.   We are too small to have an allotment shop in the usual sense.
This year we have chosen to buy Miracle Gro peat free in 50l bags.   We will be selling this on to our tenants for around £7 a bag, which is cheaper than B&Q who are selling it for £8.   We will make a small amount of profit on each bag after delivery costs are taken into account.

Have you used the Mg peat free before AnneB ?

No we haven't.  Last year our supplier got us Happy peat free compost. He recommended it and it was very good but sadly no longer in production.  We had a choice of the Miracle Gro or Sylvagrow this year.  He said both were good.  The Allotment Society has gone with Miracle Gro as the more economical choice, especially as we are providing 2 free bags per plot.

[Benny130]

I tend to work on if any can be bought for close to £0.10 a litre its worth getting as much as you can

[AndyRVTR]

I noticed Homebargains had Levingtons multi purpose compost in yesterday 40ltr bags for £3.49 iirc!

[coldandwindy]

Homebase have their own make at 3 for £12. No idea what it's like though!

Anyone know who makes it for them?