[thecakebaker]

what brand of compost have you been and got this year and what do you think of it quality and what did you pay for it.....



I have started using clover compost this year and find it very fine and fluffy and not bad priced either at £4.00 per 75l bag

[Nige2Plots]

Humax at £3.75 for a 60 L bag from the allotment shop. It's the only compost I use for sowing seeds!

[Jamie Butterworth]

So far ive only bought a bag of jonh innes no 1, that was for my onions seeds, i will be buying some general purpose later on for my other seeds, but ive still got a bag of B&Q multi purpose in my potting shed so that should put me on for a while.

[DD.]

Any reason for using JI no. 1, rather than JI seed?

I'm not an expert - just asking!

[Kleftiwallah]

I believe there is very little difference between J I 1 and seed.  They do the same job, it is just easier for the newcomer to buy seed, rather than keep in their heads the differences between John Innes 1, 2, and 3.   (In my opinion).    Cheers,   Tony.

[Jamie Butterworth]

Any reason for using JI no. 1, rather than JI seed?

I'm not an expert - just asking!

No reason in particular, it was £1 cheaper so i thought it couldnt hurt

[ians68]

I!bought cheap gro-bags from Lid- Supermarket, last year Rubbish!!! It pays to pay the extra and buy a quality compost

[DD.]

I believe there is very little difference between J I 1 and seed.  They do the same job, it is just easier for the newcomer to buy seed, rather than keep in their heads the differences between John Innes 1, 2, and 3.   (In my opinion).    Cheers,   Tony.

Have a look at this, then.

http://www.gardeningdata.co.uk/soil/john_innes/john_innes.php

[thecakebaker]

Humax at £3.75 for a 60 L bag from the allotment shop. It's the only compost I use for sowing seeds!

I had a very bad experience with Humax last year after all the bags I got had all sorts of bits in it I did complain to Humax and got replacements free from them. So this year I am using clover I fined it exceptionally good I’m on my 9th bag so far since end of November.[

[Nige2Plots]

Humax at £3.75 for a 60 L bag from the allotment shop. It's the only compost I use for sowing seeds!

I had a very bad experience with Humax last year after all the bags I got had all sorts of bits in it I did complain to Humax and got replacements free from them. So this year I am using clover I fined it exceptionally good I’m on my 9th bag so far since end of November.[

I'm sorry to hear that about Humax! Where did you buy it from? I have never had any problems with it, and did they tell you what the bits were?

[thecakebaker]

Humax at £3.75 for a 60 L bag from the allotment shop. It's the only compost I use for sowing seeds!

I had a very bad experience with Humax last year after all the bags I got had all sorts of bits in it I did complain to Humax and got replacements free from them. So this year I am using clover I fined it exceptionally good I’m on my 9th bag so far since end of November.[

I'm sorry to hear that about Humax! Where did you buy it from? I have never had any problems with it, and did they tell you what the bits were?

yes I did find out what it was it was from the milling process the screen they used was wrong so it was not taking everything out of the compost as it was been milled

[thecakebaker]

I live just down the road from a Humax wholesaler last year it was £4.00 + vat per 75l bag......


I have just ordered a further 15 bags of clover which will be with me Tuesday that should last me a few more weeks.     

[JayG]

I've found that the quality of previously reliable brands has become very inconsistent over the last few years (I suspect the high demand, the temptation to use council recycled material, and the reduction in peat usage have led to a lot of "experimentation" with the mixes.)

The last bag of "New Leaf" MP compost I bought shrunk quite dramatically in volume when used, and the plants needed feeding within a few weeks rather than the 6 weeks or so usually claimed. Previous bags were much better. 

Westland MP compost "with added John Innes" seems to hold up better than most, probably due to the mineral content, and seems quite widely available (take a calculator; the manufacturers and retailers love playing games with the bag sizes and the multi-buy deals!)

 

[sazhig]

I haven't got any yet but will pop along to Hillers in the next week or so and see what offers they have on on their organic/peat free bags. The ones I had from them last year were fairly good. Definitely shan't be using B&Q again. Had some of their organic last year and it was terrible stuff, not properly rotted at all 

[Debz]

I had some grow bags from B&Q last year and at the end of the season I opened them up to put onto the garden and they had big bits of plastic in them.