[diggerjoe]

For the first time the asda near me in Coventry has not had any compost. I asked earlier in the year  and they said after easter. Last weekend I asked again and they said this year they are not having any as there are are other suppliers close by and its not a good seller . It was really good stuff last year.

[Christine]

I'd go with the remarks about there being a lot of sub standard compost around this year.  I suspect that the problem lies in that growing your own is suddenly fashionable and so the demand has grown.

Also everyone wants organic because that is fashionable and the result is that demand outstrips decent supply.

I've found that it also varies from batch to batch within any one brand. I've no recommendations at all as I'm not properly impressed by anything at the moment.

[Kristen]

"I've no recommendations at all as I'm not properly impressed by anything at the moment"

Me too

[HelenK]

Just to say that I'm very happy with the TP compost also. I'm quite lucky as my OH works for them so we get a nice discount and he drives the lorry so can even drop the stuff off at our site.

I also used it last year, found the quality to be comparable. They have also started doing bags of soil improver which has a lovely texture and lots of lovely poop in it too! They also do mushroom compost by the tonne, I forget how much it is but it's not pricey at all.

[braders1234]

Fruitfull said

"i used john innes once and it killed plants as their boots were always in damp as it retains water too much "

I like the idea of your plants having tiny little water sodden boots on.  how sweet!

[parson]

I work in the compost manufacturing industry.

The varying standards of compost from one supplier may be down to weather conditions. In our place we screen the batch to get the product from it. The batch gets put through a screen with the product coming off one belt, and the oversize coming off another.

Our screen doesnt seperate the product from the wood as good when there has been a lot of rain, so the stuff we produce tends to be more claggy and woody throughout winter, with our best stuff getting screened in prolonged periods of dry weather.

We also can have problems with the green waste coming into our yard contaminated. Thewre are several things in place to remove them, but again depending on conditions they work to varying degrees, sometimes fantastic, other times not so.

I am quite lucky in that I can take as much home as I want. This is a link to a test done growing potatoes using our stuff.....


http://www.wrap.org.uk/downloads/Case_study_-_Potatoes_in_Practice_2008.3c362c15.6562.pdf