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Can anyone recommend reasonably priced potting compost this year?

broughton
broughton Posts: 651 Forumite
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I grow some cuttings , perennials etc for charitable causes, so get through quite a few bags of compost each season. It gets dearer and dearer and poorer and poorer quality and harder to come by. ( no garden centres near me) .This year  I bought multipurpose peat free from Aldi  and yesterday some Levingtons. Both are pretty fibrous ,products of  council type green waste I would say, judging by stones and green plastic in the Levingtons, (and don’t get me started on fungus gnats, if I bring any plants in.)Ok when mixed with perlite for larger plants but too coarse for pricked out seedlings. Looking at photos on line, Wickes looks the same. Which  online has crazily priced products as best buys , which , as I charge bargain prices , would make it unviable. I make my own compost but yield is not even enough to mulch my 3 raised veg beds. I agree that peat content should be banned but miss the finer quality I used to get. 
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  • 35har1old
    35har1old Posts: 1,476 Forumite
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    broughton said:
    I grow some cuttings , perennials etc for charitable causes, so get through quite a few bags of compost each season. It gets dearer and dearer and poorer and poorer quality and harder to come by. ( no garden centres near me) .This year  I bought multipurpose peat free from Aldi  and yesterday some Levingtons. Both are pretty fibrous ,products of  council type green waste I would say, judging by stones and green plastic in the Levingtons, (and don’t get me started on fungus gnats, if I bring any plants in.)Ok when mixed with perlite for larger plants but too coarse for pricked out seedlings. Looking at photos on line, Wickes looks the same. Which  online has crazily priced products as best buys , which , as I charge bargain prices , would make it unviable. I make my own compost but yield is not even enough to mulch my 3 raised veg beds. I agree that peat content should be banned but miss the finer quality I used to get. 
    I notice that Lidl compost carrys a health warning (Legionella)
    McCanns compost is a fine compost but won't meet the peat free criteria.
    I know gardeners world keep pushing the peat free issue so I was very surprised to see a episode that was filmed in the Isle of Man and the presenter assisted in carrying bags of compost to a seafront location and it was a brand that is peat based.
  • sheramber
    sheramber Posts: 20,393 Forumite
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    Defra (Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs) has confirmed that while sales of bagged peat composts will be banned by 2024, and some peat-containing products will be banned from shelves in 2027, others will be exempt from a ban until 2030. This means that for some professional growers, peat use will still be permitted for the next 7 years.

    https://www.lancswt.org.uk/news/uk-government-confirms-total-ban-all-peat-based-gardening-products-will-not-be-implemented#:~:text=Defra (Department for Environment Food,from a ban until 2030.
  • -taff
    -taff Posts: 14,899 Forumite
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    copied and pasted because you did start a new thread :)
    broughton, having recently had a delivery, I'd say look for a bulk bag from a local supplier. I've had to resort to fine sowing compost this year [one bag only though]  for the small seeds as nothing seems to be germinating in the usual except the weeds already in there. I got a bulk bag of spent mushroom compost, there are still lumps in it, but having broken them down by hand it's either straw or mushroom spores, and that stuff is good enough for my raised beds. Definitely a lot of manure in it because I can smell it, and the mushrooms. For bog standard normal pots, I'd just use what you have with extra feeding. One trick I use is to put a pot holder in the bottom of some of the big ones so they hold onto water better, there's always a reservoir, I don't bother with crocks, I've never had a pot bung up on me in twenty years...
    Also, I've heard good things about RocketGro, but can't verify that. They do have different types, soil conditioner, multi purpose etc, and the prices are competitive at my local mom and pop garden centre.

    Shampoo? No thanks, I'll have real poo...
  • Dustyevsky
    Dustyevsky Posts: 1,950 Forumite
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    One problem is inconsistency. Last year, I bought Miracle Gro and it was OK. This year I've bought it too, but it's a different formulation and much coarser.
    “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.” Pete Townshend.

  • ArbitraryRandom
    ArbitraryRandom Posts: 2,673 Forumite
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    edited 27 April at 9:24AM
    And maybe it changes with batch as well - I know with the dumpy bags I got from the builders, a couple were almost 50% sand, then a couple immediately after were really silky and loamy.

    I assume levingtons etc are the same with the 'stuff' they have available to go through the machines that day meaning a few hundred bags might be coarse and mostly hedge clippings, then the next few hundred finer grass clippings ;)
    (completely impartial and not at all a sales pitch re how levington's is made... if anyone is interested)

    https://youtu.be/s_K49qL3tog
    I'm not an early bird or a night owl; I’m some form of permanently exhausted pigeon.
  • Flugelhorn
    Flugelhorn Posts: 6,252 Forumite
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    I live near the levels and we still get lots of lovely peaty compost and reckon they will be doing it for quite a while yet 
  • silverwhistle
    silverwhistle Posts: 3,889 Forumite
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    The Aldi better quality stuff was OK and a bit finer than their ordinary compost and still decent value. 

    I don't know the name but there is a brand of peat based which is taken from the filters at a reservoir in the peaty peak district, but obviously not in such massive quantities. edit: possibly Moorland Gold?

    Down the allotment I take away the results of a busy little mole: lovely crumbly worked soil which mixes well with other mediums (coir etc.) and home made compost but as I never get the latter to a high enough temperature still full of seeds..
  • fatbelly
    fatbelly Posts: 21,580 Forumite
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    I've been buying from Poundland and it seems quite good to me, and cheap.

    This is moneysavingexpert, right?
  • ArbitraryRandom
    ArbitraryRandom Posts: 2,673 Forumite
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    Yes, but Martin always said that it's not about paying as little as possible - it's about getting the best value for your money where it matters to you...

    Some people would be fine with the stuff I can get (free!) from the local tip (and I've got some to use as soil conditioner), but seeds won't germinate in it and it doesn't hold moisture, so it's false economy to use it as you would seedling or potting compost. 

    I've not seen the stuff you get from poundland (it could be great quality), but the stuff around here is mostly half composted at best, so needs mixing with something finer if it's going to be used this year. 
    I'm not an early bird or a night owl; I’m some form of permanently exhausted pigeon.
  • -taff
    -taff Posts: 14,899 Forumite
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    edited 2 May at 8:43AM
    Well, I've discovered that something that has 'traditional' on the packet means it's got peat in it.
    I'm with Arb here. No one wants to buy seeds or save seeds for them not to germinate in rubbish stuff, the point of gardening for me, is to grow things. If things don't grow, there goes the point, so I am willing to spend more on something that works, rather than buy the cheapest thing there is.
    Shame we haven't got an editable spreadhseet so we can all add what we've found that works and what we've found that doesn't.
    Shampoo? No thanks, I'll have real poo...
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