Ah - I see @Jenny_Aster. I thought you were just meaning generally. It's certainly quite difficult sometimes to see info on bags - the very nature of them, and their storage, makes it a bit trickier than cans of beans
I think many of the peat free products seem to be very poor. Whether that will improve is anyone's guess.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Our local council ask that any twigs, branches etc. should be no more than finger width, but I have seen what look like whole shrubs sticking out of the tops of green bins. The do's and don'ts appear on the collection calendar which is delivered to each property but how many people read it? And I think it was on this forum that I read of some pet owners disposing of the bagged faeces in the green waste, so perhaps that results in a lot of polythene and plastic? If household green waste is going to be used in MPC it maybe needs more rigorous sieving at either the composting plant or where they mix the MPC before packaging it. Some glass and litter is perhaps inevitable but finer sieves would remove the bigger pieces. And perhaps councils could make it clearer about what should/should not go in the bins. MPC will only ever be as good as what it's made up of.
...... To me, if they can run a commercial operation peat free, there's no reason to use peat domestically.
I completely agree @Loxley. I haven't bought peat in a few years. Last year I tried Miracle Grow peat free growbags for my tomatoes; it was expensive and terrible and I won't be using that again. This year I am trying my local council's 'soil conditioner' as they call it. I'm going to try them using like growbags for the tomatoes. We'll see how it goes but I have used it for general potting and it seems ok so far. It contains a few twigs but that's OK by me. Sometimes I mix it with my own compost. For a few years I've used Lidl peat free for various potting including seed sowing and it's been good.
Based in Sussex, I garden to encourage as many birds to my garden as possible.
I recently bought a bag of Bnq peat free and so far am quite impressed.
It's very fibrous, but fine pieces, feels and looks good. I've not found any rubbish or big bits, it drains well, but holds enough moisture and my tomato seedlings are happy in it.
Jack's Magic is not peat-free anyway - the 'new and improved' version just has less peat than it used to (35-50% peat rather than ~90%) , so I wouldn't be buying it even with glowing reviews I'm afraid.
I had a terrible bag of B&Q peat-free a couple of years ago, @Buttercupdays, so had avoided it since, but maybe I won't any more All others I've tried have always been fine.
'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.'
I have B&Q's peat free at some stage most years since they started having it at the same sort of price as the peat-based. It's been very variable but the only time I thought it was really awful was in spring/early summer 2020. I suspect there was a rush to get stuff through the production process because of the increase in demand. They, as a DIY shop not a garden centre, were allowed to be open.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
I have used Miracle-gro compost for many years to give my courgette and leek plants a good start and with great success. This year I tried their new peat free compost with dire results: the courgette plants are still tiny and the leeks equally disappointing!
Has anyone else had this problem or offer an explanation because I certainly don't intend to repeat the process with an expensive compost that stunts my plants!
Posts
It's certainly quite difficult sometimes to see info on bags - the very nature of them, and their storage, makes it a bit trickier than cans of beans
I think many of the peat free products seem to be very poor. Whether that will improve is anyone's guess.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
And I think it was on this forum that I read of some pet owners disposing of the bagged faeces in the green waste, so perhaps that results in a lot of polythene and plastic?
If household green waste is going to be used in MPC it maybe needs more rigorous sieving at either the composting plant or where they mix the MPC before packaging it. Some glass and litter is perhaps inevitable but finer sieves would remove the bigger pieces. And perhaps councils could make it clearer about what should/should not go in the bins.
MPC will only ever be as good as what it's made up of.
I had a terrible bag of B&Q peat-free a couple of years ago, @Buttercupdays, so had avoided it since, but maybe I won't any more All others I've tried have always been fine.
Has anyone else had this problem or offer an explanation because I certainly don't intend to repeat the process with an expensive compost that stunts my plants!