This has been my point this year about MPC and peat free, the inconsistencies of mixes. It is no good to the amateur gardener to have to buy compost ( of any description) get it home, check its condition, then have to decide if they need to go out and buy something else to make it usable. Most won't have the knowledge to know what to buy ( plus the extra expense) , or what conditions each plant will need, they just want a pretty garden.
A lot of the lack of consistency must relate to the buyers' price sensitivity. If you're going for a £9 price point for 120lt of compost, it would take some compromises to get there. Asking people to pay more for a better product is a tough ask for something that just goes in pot. For most people a bag of compost is just a bag of compost.
A lot of the lack of consistency must relate to the buyers' price sensitivity. If you're going for a £9 price point for 120lt of compost, it would take some compromises to get there. Asking people to pay more for a better product is a tough ask for something that just goes in pot. For most people a bag of compost is just a bag of compost.
it seems nowadays that one can pay a lot for crap compost, or pay less for crap compost. I've not heard anyone say they've bought the same brand and it's been 100% consistent from batch to batch, year to year
A lot of the lack of consistency must relate to the buyers' price sensitivity. If you're going for a £9 price point for 120lt of compost, it would take some compromises to get there. Asking people to pay more for a better product is a tough ask for something that just goes in pot. For most people a bag of compost is just a bag of compost.
it seems nowadays that one can pay a lot for crap compost, or pay less for crap compost. I've not heard anyone say they've bought the same brand and it's been 100% consistent from batch to batch, year to year
Exactly this. Not knowing what it's going to be like until you get the bag home and opened and tried out is the issue. Recently I've just been buying whatever peat-free is cheapest at the shop that I'm in, because my experience is it can be anything from good to rubbish across all price points. I'd pay more and/or make special trips to a GC for reliable consistency from bag to bag of (apparently) the same stuff.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
How long did it take for manufacturers to come up with a suitable and consistent product when they first started selling bags of MPC?
It’s early days yet in the development of the peat-free equivalent, plus the huge increase in demand since lockdown gardening became a thing must have impacted on the availability of the ingredients … don’t know whether Br**it has had an effect too, but I wouldn’t be surprised. 🙄
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
How long did it take for manufacturers to come up with a suitable and consistent product when they first started selling bags of MPC?
It’s early days yet in the development of the peat-free equivalent, plus the huge increase in demand since lockdown gardening became a thing must have impacted on the availability of the ingredients … don’t know whether Br**it has had an effect too, but I wouldn’t be surprised. 🙄
However long it takes should be in their time ,and at their expense, not ours. We'd not buy a TV and just hope it was ok just because it was a new model. Imagine if car manufacturers sent cars out just hoping they'd be up to the job?
Well, to be fair, they did send out cars and televisions that were pretty unreliable. It was just so long ago that we forget. However, that is no excuse for rubbish compost, which is not the cutting edge technologically. I'd like to know where you can get 120letres for £9, too. Not here, certainly.
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It is no good to the amateur gardener to have to buy compost ( of any description) get it home, check its condition, then have to decide if they need to go out and buy something else to make it usable. Most won't have the knowledge to know what to buy ( plus the extra expense) , or what conditions each plant will need, they just want a pretty garden.
https://www.theorchardproject.org.uk/news/alys-fowler-named-patron-of-the-orchard-project/
I've not heard anyone say they've bought the same brand and it's been 100% consistent from batch to batch, year to year
Exactly this. Not knowing what it's going to be like until you get the bag home and opened and tried out is the issue. Recently I've just been buying whatever peat-free is cheapest at the shop that I'm in, because my experience is it can be anything from good to rubbish across all price points. I'd pay more and/or make special trips to a GC for reliable consistency from bag to bag of (apparently) the same stuff.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
We'd not buy a TV and just hope it was ok just because it was a new model.
Imagine if car manufacturers sent cars out just hoping they'd be up to the job?