Question regarding using your own compost. I'm always left wondering when Monty Don uses his own in pots; doesn't it have to be sterilised? Surely it's full of weed seeds, slug eggs etc.
Ah, I see what you're saying Edd but my garden is only tiny and so my composting is done in a compost bin which does not get hot. I've got a very old book (1920) which deals with sterilising compost . . . I guess gardening was hard work back in those days.
I have opened bags of compost, farmyard manure, peat and a box of bonemeal that have all been hanging around the garden for a few years.
They've been kept dry, but have been baked in the summers and frozen in the winters, so is it all still good to use? There's not much of a smell to any of it, even the bag of manure.
The problem with mp compost from say BQ is that like most big suppliers there is no date of when the compost was produced, so you really don't knothole old it iis.
The last lost of mp compost I brought was from Homebase .I find this quite good and well broke down.
The best place to buy would be your local garden centre as they will give you good advice on its uses and also would attempt to supply you with new instead of old supply
Also have a go at producing your own as its amassing the good quantity you can produce from 1or2 compost bins as long as you follow some simple processess
It should all be fine Tomsk, as it has been kept dry. It's only if it's left outside in the rain for a long time that you get issues as the nutrients can get washed out. If any of the peat has dried out completely though, then you might have trouble wetting it.
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
Zoomer, Black Darlek's are great - I've got one in the church garden and it heats up nicely. My home one though is aluminium. It was the only square one I could get that fits a corner where the landscaper left a flag out for me to put a compost bin. It had to have straight sides so as to fit in the corner. As you know many of them are a graded width (goodness knows why). Anyway, it doesn't get even warm on the hottest days so far as I can see.
Is normal A4 copier paper OK to put in a compost bin? I have the best part of a ream of old A4 that's been left exposed for years to cigarette smoke and kitchen steam. The edges are a bit dented, it's no longer pure white and it smells!
I was going to put most of it in the recycle bin, but is this kind of paper good for compost 'browns' or are there unwanted chemicals in it? My compost is rather green-heavy at the moment so I need something to make it lighter and fluffier.
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Question regarding using your own compost. I'm always left wondering when Monty Don uses his own in pots; doesn't it have to be sterilised? Surely it's full of weed seeds, slug eggs etc.
Ah, I see what you're saying Edd but my garden is only tiny and so my composting is done in a compost bin which does not get hot. I've got a very old book (1920) which deals with sterilising compost . . . I guess gardening was hard work back in those days.
Does anyone know if bags of compost go 'stale'?
I have opened bags of compost, farmyard manure, peat and a box of bonemeal that have all been hanging around the garden for a few years.
They've been kept dry, but have been baked in the summers and frozen in the winters, so is it all still good to use? There's not much of a smell to any of it, even the bag of manure.
The problem with mp compost from say BQ is that like most big suppliers there is no date of when the compost was produced, so you really don't knothole old it iis.
The last lost of mp compost I brought was from Homebase .I find this quite good and well broke down.
The best place to buy would be your local garden centre as they will give you good advice on its uses and also would attempt to supply you with new instead of old supply
Also have a go at producing your own as its amassing the good quantity you can produce from 1or2 compost bins as long as you follow some simple processess
Angela, with a good mix even a black darlik can get hot in the summer.
Tomsk
I have opened bags of peat based compost to find it has a strange odour
I would normally leave it to dry out in a dry area then check the compost again
It should all be fine Tomsk, as it has been kept dry. It's only if it's left outside in the rain for a long time that you get issues as the nutrients can get washed out. If any of the peat has dried out completely though, then you might have trouble wetting it.
I wonder if most composts come from the same factory and is sold in different bags maybe monty don could do some tests
Zoomer, Black Darlek's are great - I've got one in the church garden and it heats up nicely. My home one though is aluminium. It was the only square one I could get that fits a corner where the landscaper left a flag out for me to put a compost bin. It had to have straight sides so as to fit in the corner. As you know many of them are a graded width (goodness knows why). Anyway, it doesn't get even warm on the hottest days so far as I can see.
Is normal A4 copier paper OK to put in a compost bin? I have the best part of a ream of old A4 that's been left exposed for years to cigarette smoke and kitchen steam. The edges are a bit dented, it's no longer pure white and it smells!
I was going to put most of it in the recycle bin, but is this kind of paper good for compost 'browns' or are there unwanted chemicals in it? My compost is rather green-heavy at the moment so I need something to make it lighter and fluffier.