Compost Bargains?

Pixiechic

I was wondering if anyone knows of any good multi-purpose compost buys out there. I have bought some potatoe bags and veg bags so I will be needing rather a lot!! If anyone knows of any bargains I would be grateful to know. Many thanks.

Jnelhams

Homebase normally do 3 x 80ltr bags for £10 and then wait for 10% day or if you have access to a Makro card they often do good offers.

Monkeysee_monkeydo

Speak to your local garden center. You should be able to get a full pallet of compost at quite a discount.

However, the cheapest quickest way would be to start off with well rotted manure, which can be relatively cheap.
Some farmers will deliver manure and usually the delivery charge costs more than the manure.

Making your own compost is really cheap too. You can buy a wormery, compost bin or make a much bigger purpose built compost area. Again these can be cheap with second hand materials. The downside is it takes a long time and a lot of material to make a little bit of compost.

Best of luck pixiechic

Kirri

Have you tried your local Council? They may offer free or very cheap compost as recycling centres.

A._Badger

May I just, ever so gently, suggest caution with multipurpose composts?

Last year, the gardening groups (including this one) were full of tales of poor quality products, as manufacturers struggled to find suitable replacements for peat, which the government is forcing them to stop using.

I posted about problems I'd had with J. Arthur Bowers, while other commenters had bad experiences with other makes - even the once reliable B&Q brand I tried at one stage seemed to have all sorts of strange, alien, additions!

Sadly, the manufacturers change their formulae every year, so we can't even rely on what was a good variety the year before - and the type I had singled-out to use in place of Bowers for 2010 (Humax) has just been bought by the giant US firm, Scotts (which also owns Levington and Miracle Groo) so I doubt I'll be bothering with that, as it will probably end-up like Levington - a shadow of its former self!

Perhaps we should have a thread comparing notes on this year's varieties in real-time?

Any views?

A._Badger

Kirri wrote: »

Have you tried your local Council? They may offer free or very cheap compost as recycling centres.

I suspect the OP was talking about potting compost, not soil-improver.

bromsgrovebarry

If you dont mind getting a little grubby and you can line your car boot, I get the slightly split bags of compost from my garden centre at a very large discount. Well worth the hassle.

conradmum

It's going to cost you a fortune to fill your bags with commercial compost, making your potatoes and vegetables very expensive indeed!

I would go with other posters' suggestions of free or very cheap sources of planting material (could you also mix in soil from your garden?). Then supply any nutrients that are lacking with liquid fertiliser.

Pixiechic

Thank you for all the replies and advice. I am wondering now if I would have been better off just buying the grow bags with the compost in already. I thought I was getting a bargain at Wilkinsons with the £2.50 for 2 bags that you put the compost in to grow pots and other veg. I wonder if I aught to take them back and go and buy the big compost bags. Any opinions?

Many thanks again, this site is great with all the shared knowledge.

A._Badger

Pixiechic, I've just started a thread on compost quality. It might be worth seeing if we get any response to that before buying a large quantity of anything. The quality of the different available types varied very widely last year and it would be a good idea not to buy a huge quantity without knowing if it is any good.

Pixiechic

Thanks A. Badger, that is a very good point. I shall keep a keen eye on the reviews. Although I would like something as inexpensive as possible, I would def pay a bit more for good quality, so that is a great idea. Many thanks again.