growbag v's compost

AJFan

I am a terrible gardener, but am trying, I really am. So today in the garden center I was looking at compost and worked out that grobags were much cheaper than any of the other available compost (i.e. comparing price/weight) Is there any reason why? Would it be reasonable to buy grobags instead of multipurpose compost or is there anything special in non grobags?

Zazen999

It's the other way around, growbags have well rotted manure in them that multipurpose hasn't.

I use peat free now for seedlings, and cheap growbags when I pot up toms and peppers etc.

Dave101t

i bought 100L for 6 quid normal plant compost. wasnt a special offer but worked out cheaper than the buy 3 get 1 free offers.
i just pour it on the seed beds as new topsoil, wonderful!

i dont bother with growbags as they are more expensive for me, but if you only have a patio they can be useful

Jake'sGran

A lot of people buy growbags and use the contents for their tubs and baskets.
After watching a programme all about peat on GW the other week where they had done a trial of the best multi-purpose, I saw the one they said was the best in Focus two for the price of one. Until I saw this programme I hadn't known that most MP compost has peat in it. For me, I find growbags messy in my little greenhouse so I use new MP in those black plastic pots they sell for about 15p each in Morrisons - just for tomatoes. I grow chillies in smaller ones. I think if growbags had well rotted manure in them they would be more expensive although I know there are better ones than the £1 ones they have in most shops.

Beatlefan

Sorry if this is a bit basic (:o), but when you're growing veg/fruit in containers on patios, etc, can you use compost? I thought I'd read somewhere that you needed proper soil, because compost was too flaky to allow large roots to establish themselves. I was planning to buy some growbags because of this rather than MP compost. My veg plot is filling up fast, so I want to plant my remaining seeds into containers - tomatoes, butternut squash, etc.

I've also got some potatoes from the Thompson & Morgan offer that came with large black bags. Do I fill that with soil or compost?

Thanks.

olly300

Beatlefan wrote: »

Sorry if this is a bit basic (:o), but when you're growing veg/fruit in containers on patios, etc, can you use compost? I thought I'd read somewhere that you needed proper soil, because compost was too flaky to allow large roots to establish themselves. I was planning to buy some growbags because of this rather than MP compost. My veg plot is filling up fast, so I want to plant my remaining seeds into containers - tomatoes, butternut squash, etc.

I've also got some potatoes from the Thompson & Morgan offer that came with large black bags. Do I fill that with soil or compost?

Thanks.

Bit confused.

What do you mean by soil and compost?

Shops call some mixtures "compost" when in actual fact you would call them "soil".

The only reason to use shop brought "compost" for pots and tubs is because it's normally not contaminated with diseases and bugs.

There are lots of different mixtures but most shops and DIY sheds only sell a few types, there as a good garden centre will have more mixtures plus horticultural grit, horticultural sand and composted manure.

brownfrog

Beatlefan wrote: »

Sorry if this is a bit basic (:o), but when you're growing veg/fruit in containers on patios, etc, can you use compost? I thought I'd read somewhere that you needed proper soil, because compost was too flaky to allow large roots to establish themselves.

You can, but you're better off having a mixture, for the reasons I gave in another similar thread here: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1642839

The main reason is watering - many veg need to have a relatively stable level of moisture, and multipurpose compost (which is what I assume you mean here) doesn't really allow that.

[Deleted User]

Work out the cost per Litre. Most peat peat-based composts perform better if you can bung in some sharp sand and/or garden soil to give it some weight. Growbags are probably a bit rich for seed sowing but ok for most other garden stuff!