[meridiangarden]

The council have donated some rough compost to our community allotment (rather late in the day, we wanted it months ago!).

The land we are using is poor quality (full of rocks and stones that we are gradually picking out but will never all be gone), though can't be that bad as when we dig we churn up loads of worms (a good sign surely!?!).

For the seeds/plants we have already sown/planted, we have mixed the soil with shop-bought compost, but we have nearly run out.

I would love to use the free compost, but have been warned it's very rough. Would this be completely unsuitable for anything I plant/sow this month? We have a few things left to go in and need to put somethin nutritious in the soil. I was thinking we could dig it in and leave it a couple of weeks then sow/plant.

Any advice???

[Kleftiwallah]

I think this 'stuff' can best be used as a 'soil improver' rather than a straight compost.  Add it to other 'stuff' for best use.   Cheers,   Tony.

[chriscross1966]

I'd only use as a soil improver.... I've tried using council compost as a seed compost for an assortment of beans working on the theory that they won't mind it being a bit coarse cos they're buig seweds adn it was dreadful how bad the germination was.... about 10% compared to the 75% I got frmo the same seed in normal cheap MP... self-saved seeds so I'm happy with 75%..

chrisc

[meridiangarden]

Thanks, I have another question- and you would have to forgive me as I am a novice having only ever done container gardens before...

what do you mean by "soil improver"? Can we mix it up with the soil that is already there, leave it for a couple of weeks, rake it out then sow directly into this mix? Or would nothing germinate if we did this?

Would we be better off raking it through and leaving it, meanwhile, starting off the crops in seed trays (then planting out later)?

Please don't worry about being patronising, I know very little about all of this!

[JayG]

The nutrient content of rotted composts and manures varies a lot depending on what went into it and how it was composted, but yours is probably best treated as just a soil improver (i.e. it will improve the workability and moisture retention but not add much in the way of food.)

If it's got lumps of wood or a lot of unrotted material in it I'd be tempted to leave it to compost properly for future use (your soil doesn't sound too bad and you can always supplement it with dry fertilisers.)

Otherwise I would just lightly fork it into the top 6 inches of soil (don't be too fussy!) - you should still be able to rake the surface for seed sowing and also plant into the soil if required.

[Trillium]

I was given the same type of rough compost, and I did as Jay suggested - pick out the largish bits of wood/whatever, and fork or rotovate in the rest. It's better than nothing to help loosen the soil structure, but I'd never use it for seeding for pots as its still composting and could burn seedling roots, if they even got that far.

[meridiangarden]

Thank you all, I have a much better idea of what to do now.