[carlotta]

My local council is offering free compost tomorrow. Has anyone ever tried this compost?

I am a bit worried about what I may be inporting to my plot, or is it safe?

[Annen]

Ours is called soil improver not compost but I think it is the same thing.  I only got mine about a month ago and so far nothing has come out in it.  I did hear tell that tomato seeds come with it sometimes, but that would be no problem, it is quite loose and easy to pull any weedlings out. According to the blurb it reaches quite high temperatures to kill off most weed seeds.

[sunshineband]

Our council does not make it available to the public, sadly, but where my daughter lives (near Croydon) you can collect one bag for every bag of 'green' waste you take to the tip

It is steam sterilised and fast heat rotted down. Makes a great soil  conditioner, but is a bit coarse for seed sowing. No weed seeds have come up at all from it.

[Manteiga]

Our council call it 'warrior compost' I think. I bought some last year and it seems to be really good value for money. Completely filled a raised bed in the garden (for growing herbs) for about £10.

[BicesterKev]

We are allowed 1 free bag per household per year in Bicester...woohoo!
The council do make a job lot dump down at our allotment a couple of times a year, the quality isn't too great but isn't too bad for a free load of leaf mould to use for mulching.

[polly nator]

In York we can collect whatever we like on the first Sunday of the spring  and summer months. You go and dig away at he "coal face"  So the following comments apply to York Council compost.

The compost varies immensely year by year. One year it was really fine, steam was literally coming off the mountains of compost and the bags continued to heat up in the back of my car. Last year was very twiggy. This year is twiggy but less so and it is smelly.

It is always jolly good but isnt fine enough for seed sowing most years. I fill up pots and put some commercially produced seed compost on top for this.

It is very good for topping up raised beds but you will find it settles a lot throughout the year and you'll need more for the first few years.

Beware of using it indoors as you can get a lot of little flies buzzing about.

[snowdrops]

When we re landscaped our back garden a couple of years ago I was able to obtain a large load of 'council'compost to add body to the soil,for the cost of the diesel to deliver it. I ordered 2 ton & got more like 4 well that's what the driver said. I used it all & the results to the soil have been well worth it.

[Debz]

My brother in law filled his 3 large raised beds with it.  We added a lot of horse manure because he had ponies and the manure had to go somewhere but it has grown great potatoes, onions and brassicas over the last couple of years.  There has been the odd bit of glass come to the surface but that could just as easily have been from the ground the beds are sitting on.  It's not seed sowing quality because it's a bit big and rough for that but the plants have done fine.

[noshed]

We get it free on our site - it's hot and black and quite coarse. I use it for mulch and as a soil conditioner really. Seeds don't seem to germinate that well in it but it helps to put organic matter into the soil. As a mulch it is a good weed suppressant although you have to be careful not to put it too close to anything you want to keep when it is still hot.

[Eblana]

Lucky you, our local council have privatized this service and you have to pay to drop off your green waste and you have to pay to buy the 'soil improver' (not even a discount for having given them the raw materials for the stuff!!!!).  I recently bought two tonnes which cost me 100 euro - didn't go very far in terms of filling up the beds but I must say that the soil in the beds it went into is now very good, no additional weeds that I can see at the moment.

If you can get it for free grab it quick.