[thecakebaker]

You will be fine with it.

[Thephoenix572]

Thanks for your swift response

[Thephoenix572]

I ended up getting some from B&Ms as Wilkos had sold out. It says it contains some John Innes so hopefully be ok for tub grown rhubarb

[thecakebaker]

That should be fine to use.

[Lulu]

I'm  a bit late joining this but I've bought 3 lots of compost this year. -1)Homebase John Innes seed compost which I find to be reliable and effective.  2) Wickes multipurpose compost which has been lovely stuff. 3) a bale of B & Q's multipurpose compost which is OK - my problem with it is that is growing grass.  Every batch of seedlings I have potted on with it has at least 2 -3 pots growing some very sturdy grass in it. Which is easy to spot and remove but a tad annoying.

I've used a lot of my own compost this year as well - I expect that will be a lot more weedy than B & Q's !!!!

[Ralphy]

i found a bag of Kelpie scotish seaweed compost this week, not had a chance to use it yet, £4 a bag roughly the same as most other sorts and it feels reasuringly dense and soft

[dugless]

and it feels reasuringly dense and soft

A bit like me then these days

[LilacSandy]

But Dugless, this means you are compact and plyable 

[lovemyveg]

For the last two years I have been having problems with bought compost.  Whilst I make my own, I always have to buiy in more and especially for sowing seeds.  After trying numerous brands from all our local outlets I have been appalled at the condition of the multi purpose products.  These contain stick size pieces of wood, large hairy bits (not sure what these are) hard lumps which cannot be broken down, almost stone-like.  This has to be sieved before sowing seeds, which is time consuming, and then half the bag is wasted through the dross that the products contain.  Today, Eureka I have 4x 60ltr bags of Clove compost, which is excellent.  Not a lump or hairy product in sight, fine, nice to handle - what a find.  At £3.50 per bag, or 4 for £12 this is truly a find, I just hope that the retailer does not change the brand for something as inferior as those which I have been paying the same price for.  Even the growbags which I bought a few weeks ago contained hard lumps??  I feel strongly that what we are buying here is all the council recycling rubbish product, which I really object to be paying for.  As I make my own compost and am fussy about what I put in there, 3/4 of the "decent" garden rubbish goes onto my own compost, which produces good compost.  The rest, which I would not dream of putting on my own compost  heap goes into the council recycling bin, to include perennial weeds, seed heads and roots as well, including the dreaded bindweed, dandelions, wild garlic, celandine and food waste.  I think it is time that the bags of compost state where these have been produced so that we have a choice of what we are buying.  I have also had problems with the John Innes product and when I complained to the manufactures they said that the inspection line was at fault.  I did get a refund, but have never bought the product again.

[Ralphy]

the Kelpie compost turned out to be great, really fine and no twiggy bits i've mulched the shallots with it and they looked happier overnight, i checked their website and it's made mainly from the council compost bins and then enriched with seaweed, so i'm a bit concerened about herbicides creeping into it from lawn clippings and wotnot but this batch seems to be fine, well worth a try if you can find it, although i'd probably do the bean test first.
here's the manufacturer's link http://www.caledonianhorticulture.co.uk/products.html what do you reckon?

[thecakebaker]

I don’t think that the compost that the council make using peoples used garden waste is going to take off as a compost in the long run even with added seaweed added to it as you are getting weeds and god knows what in it when it is getting collected froth the council recycling bins unless it is heated to very high temperature then it’s not going to work very well as an everyday compost. I would rather pay the price and buy good fresh compost.

[Ralphy]

the blurb says they monitor the heaps to ensure that they're hot enough to sterilise them of fungi, weeds and wot not and since they seem to mainly supply bulk loads to sports grounds and whatnot i think that'll be ok, its been sitting round my shalots for long enough for anything odd to pop up and all seems to be well, it's just the herbicides i'm worried about cos it would appear that their main users seem to add it to grassy areas and they don't mention pesticide testing on their website, i think i'll send them an email, cos its lovely stuff!

[LilacSandy]

I brought 5 grow bags from B & Q for just under £8 and opened them up to use to pot on, they were silky smooth and no bits in them at all.  Great value.

[mumofstig]

B & Q quality seems unreliable from batch to batch though 

[elrohana]

I've been buying this stuff http://www.woodcotegreen.com/Products/243-new-horizon-multi-purpose-compost-60ltr.aspx from my local garden centre, its not cheap, but as I mostly use my own stuff and only buy compost when I run out, I'm happy to pay a bit extra for good compost.  This stuff hasn't so far had any of the problems described by others here, so I shall be sticking with it.