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So much spent compost to use … ideas ?

muckyhandsmikemuckyhandsmike Posts: 239
in The potting shed
Since moving home 2 years ago I have become much more of a “pots” gardener - previously I had very few pots but large formal borders and lots of established shrubs and trees.
So I am finding that in freshening up the pots I am building up quite a stock of spent compost that needs using (a new experience for me !). 
I have been mulching around my laurel hedge and hydrangeas in spring but the number of bags is still building up. So what do others do with their old compost ?

Posts

  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Mix some of it with fresh compost and reuse in pots  and chuck the rest on the garden or use it for bulbs or add fertiliser and use it for unfussy plants. 
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • muckyhandsmikemuckyhandsmike Posts: 239
    Yes I have started mixing with fresh compost for some plants in pots. Do you find this works well b3 ?
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I think so but how would I know? The plants look ok to me but maybe they'd be better with completely fresh and maybe not🤔  you'd have to do a controlled experiment, I suppose.
    Looking at the poor quality of compost available, we might well be chucking out better stuff - unless it goes on the compost heap.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • SalixGoldSalixGold Posts: 450
    I re-use mine too in pots, mixed with homemade compost or bought. I use it for bulbs and re-compost some of it in my bins. It works fine as a mulch. I never get rid of any of it - it goes through the garden systems, one way or another.
  • Butterfly66Butterfly66 Posts: 970
    I reuse old compost as well. Great as it is for bulbs which have all the goodness they need themselves. Then mix in some homemade compost and slow release food for bedding, repeated the next year and so on. Like @B3 I haven’t done a trial but the results are ok for me. I think I’m on year 3 now and haven’t bought any compost for two years
     If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero
    East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I reuse it too, and it's good for seed sowing in autumn because there's less nutrition in it. You don't want big leafy plants to try and maintain over winter, and they're less sturdy anyway if fresh stuff is used at that time of year. It's still good in early spring for many seeds to be sown in.
    I also use it for adding to borders etc - it all benefits the soil structure, especially if you have heavy clay as I do. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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