recommended multi-purpose compost

salthepal

I need to buy lots of bags of multi-purpose compost - probably about 6 jumbo sized bags.
I understand that the Verve B&Q compost is not so good this year. In previous years I have bought B&Q multi-purpose compost as it was very good and recommended by Which? magazine.
Are there any deals/bargains out there to be had?
Thanks.
Sally

A._Badger

I'm still trying to find a brand that's any use. Verve is, indeed, horrible stuff this year but J. Arthur Bowers is even worse. I've been told that Humax has reverted to the old formula (which would make it excellent) but haven't tried any yet.

So much for all this 'peat reduction' nonsense - we end-up with a product that is borderline useless!

Leif

New Horizon organic is supposed to be decent. Looks okay to me.

annie123

A._Badger wrote: »

I'm still trying to find a brand that's any use. Verve is, indeed, horrible stuff this year but J. Arthur Bowers is even worse. I've been told that Humax has reverted to the old formula (which would make it excellent) but haven't tried any yet.

I had to buy a bag of Humax for my mum recently as it's the only one the garden centre near her stocked............it's wonderful, I'm a convert.
No more homebase mpc for me when my homemade stuff runs out.

A._Badger

annie123 wrote: »

I had to buy a bag of Humax for my mum recently as it's the only one the garden centre near her stocked............it's wonderful, I'm a convert.
No more homebase mpc for me when my homemade stuff runs out.

Thanks, Annie, I used to use it but the company sold out to the people behind Miracle Groo (as I call it) and the first thing they did was ruin the formula. A small nursery near me (note 'nursery, not 'garden centre' - they grow plants and know what they are talking about!) told me it had been reformulated back towards the old free-draining version, so as soon as he gets a supply I'll try it.

sammyroser

I tried Verve for the first time this year and it is appalling.

My local council sells off compost they make from our garden waste which turned out to be quite good. Don't know if any other councils offer the same service.

Bunnygirl

My verve is light and fluffy only a few bits of small wood.

I have been told that clover compost is very good if you can find someone that stocks it.

wiltslass

We like New Horizon currently at Morrisons for 3 for 2 so 3 x 50ltr bags for £8. Have used it for years and get good results.

LincolnshireYokel

Let me tell you all about compost.

The government is pushing hard to stop the use of peat i ncompost, but as it stands, peat free doesnt compete with peat based.

Theres various types of peat free, and they have tried all sorts of substitutes including shredded carpet, composted shredded pape, and coir

The main one used is composted green waste. The main supplier of composted green waste is Vital Earth, which is run by the husband of the marketing manager for Sinclair Horticulture, the largest compost maker in the country and maker of J Arthur Bowers. Theres hundreds of different recipes for composts. Professional growers have there own secret recipes, or they use professional grade compost (more later).

When places like B&Q or ASDA sell compost, they get one of about 5 companies to make it. They say how much they want to pay for the compost, and the maker then comes up with a recipe to suit. Usually its tendered out at the end of the summer.

Who makes which compost changes every year, so B&Q compost might be made by Sinclairs one year, Bullrush the next and Scotts the year after. Thats why every year you have to find out which is the best.

Verve is B&Q's trading name, and this year its made by Sinclairs, in fact its virtually the same recipe as JAB multipupose.

What you have to realise tho, is that even the best consumer retail compost cant hold a candle to a decent professional compost. Thats because you get what you pay for. I use Sinclairs Professional Medium grade. Its rich, dark and velvety and stuff grows like mad in it. But then its about £5 a an 80L bag.

I would recommend forgetting about cheap retail rubbish, get down to a Horticultural Suppliers and buy some professional grade compost , it's an order of magnitude better, and they will sell you for cash, you dont have to be a farmer or grower to buy it.

Another way to buy it is to get a group of you together and buy a 16 cu/m load loose bulk, cash, you'll pay about £500 but 16 cubic metres is 270 60L bags equivalent, and works out about £2 a bag, and itll be far better than anything you can buy in a garden centre.

(BTW, compost is always sold in volume and not weight, because it measured in volume then dried so that volume weighs a specific amount. Raw peat is sold at a price that depends on how wet it is. Bear in mind compost that is too wet weighs more, so you get less on a lorry and in some cases its cracks the pallets ).).

A._Badger

A very interestig post LY - thank you.

The only point I'd take issue with is that I have bought sacks of both Verve and JAB this year and whatever the formula might say, the results are very different. Verve is nasty, with far too many twigs and unidentifiable, undigested lumps but it is quite light, while JAB is very claggy, woody and fibrous. So bad was the sample of JAB I bought that I used the sack for potatoes - it wasn't fit for sowing seeds into (though for expensive and very fine seed, I prefer JI seed, anyway - though some of that can be pretty questionable!).

u704446

Got some multipurpose from Lidl at the start of the season and it was pretty good. Got the same a couple of weeks later and it was terrible! - twigs, a big button and couple of small bits of glass in it.
Moved on to Asda's own which I reckon is good for basic stuff. 15litre bag for 99p. Big bags 70(?)litres.