I've had more success with J Arthur Bowers than anything this year - all the 'specialists' have let me down, so I'm sticking with what I know. (you live and learn !) The latest batches of it are more newly packed and hence less 'clumpy'. I've found it works for me.
I tried to use homebase reserve and collect service for some Westland MPC but I got a call from them to say don't bother coming to collect it we've sold it ! I was furious at the time but, after reading this thread it seems they've done me a big favour. Thank you Homebase your poor customer service has triumphed again.
This thread was from last year Mr Robinson so you may find Westland could be better this year!
I've just bought some nice organic compost at my local GC called Vital Earth which is lovely. I can highly recommend it. £3.99 for a 50 L bag but they had an offer of 4 bags for a tenner so that made it very reasonable.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
You are right Fairygirl, it seems compost formulae for many branded makes is changing every year at the moment, so I would only take recommendations for makes when they have been bought this year. Own-branded compost from the large well-known GC/DIY stores tends to vary between areas of the country, too, so recommendations for those should also be taken with a pinch of salt! I use a lot of the stuff (60-90 bags a year) and I buy one bag of each of several brands at this time of the year to see which I like before ordering in bulk.
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
Wondering if anyone else noticed this last year...
I had some growbags from B&Q, and i noticed they were full of peanuts., mostly because there was so many of them mice would open them and pull them apart to get at the nuts.
I had 1 bag left over so i opened it this spring as i needed some compost, and actually found the number of nuts in was unbelievable,peanuts (still red in their shells) probably made up a 1/4 of all the material in the growbag. I can't even say it was uncomposted material as it basically looked like fresh peanuts, it clearly was just a material they had used to add as a filler to the compost.
So we've had rocks, plastic, lumps of wood and now peanuts all sold as compost...
I use my favourite nursery's own. It comes in a plain white bag, no brand name, reasonably priced, and it's lovely stuff. It's what they use themselves and has 9 months of plant nutrition. I use it for most stuff, potting, seed sowing, I like just sticking my hands in it as well, it's lovely, if a bit weird.
Posts
I've had more success with J Arthur Bowers than anything this year - all the 'specialists' have let me down, so I'm sticking with what I know. (you live and learn
!) The latest batches of it are more newly packed and hence less 'clumpy'. I've found it works for me.
Hello,
I tried to use homebase reserve and collect service for some Westland MPC but I got a call from them to say don't bother coming to collect it we've sold it ! I was furious at the time but, after reading this thread it seems they've done me a big favour. Thank you Homebase your poor customer service has triumphed again.
This thread was from last year Mr Robinson so you may find Westland could be better this year!
I've just bought some nice organic compost at my local GC called Vital Earth which is lovely. I can highly recommend it. £3.99 for a 50 L bag but they had an offer of 4 bags for a tenner so that made it very reasonable.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
You are right Fairygirl, it seems compost formulae for many branded makes is changing every year at the moment, so I would only take recommendations for makes when they have been bought this year. Own-branded compost from the large well-known GC/DIY stores tends to vary between areas of the country, too, so recommendations for those should also be taken with a pinch of salt! I use a lot of the stuff (60-90 bags a year) and I buy one bag of each of several brands at this time of the year to see which I like before ordering in bulk.
Wondering if anyone else noticed this last year...
I had some growbags from B&Q, and i noticed they were full of peanuts., mostly because there was so many of them mice would open them and pull them apart to get at the nuts.
I had 1 bag left over so i opened it this spring as i needed some compost, and actually found the number of nuts in was unbelievable,peanuts (still red in their shells) probably made up a 1/4 of all the material in the growbag. I can't even say it was uncomposted material as it basically looked like fresh peanuts, it clearly was just a material they had used to add as a filler to the compost.
So we've had rocks, plastic, lumps of wood and now peanuts all sold as compost...
I bet the squirrels' love your garden Andy
I bought some B & Q s own brand this year , (compost ,not grow bags) seems nice stuff, but the bags are smaller
or is it my imagination?
I bought the 120 litre verve b&q compost this year and it was good stuff night and day better than last years compost.
I have bought Homebase mpc this year & Westland mpc both are very good quality, they seem identical in make up so I presume Westland make both.
I won't use anything but New Horizons, it's organic and peat free. I have no issues with it at all. It does what it is supposed to.
I use my favourite nursery's own. It comes in a plain white bag, no brand name, reasonably priced, and it's lovely stuff. It's what they use themselves and has 9 months of plant nutrition. I use it for most stuff, potting, seed sowing, I like just sticking my hands in it as well, it's lovely, if a bit weird.