Fortunately one post from this old thread is now out of date. The last Irish power station to burn peat closed last December.
Peat free composts are depressingly inconsistent. If they were always light and fluffy and drained quickly, we could get used to a different watering regime. I've been plodding on using peat free composts for everything except seed sowing, and find them OK in terms of plant establishment and growth, but it's difficult to get the balance between too dry and soggy. Fortunately during lockdown I've had time to assess each plant individually.
I'm afraid I've not found a totally peat free seed compost in which tricky things will germinate satisfactorily.
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
I made my own seed compost this year by mixing about 70% sieved peat free compost (6mm riddle) with about 30% soil. Also put vermiculite in some of it. The larger bits from the compost that wouldn't go through the sieve then got chucked on nearest flower bed. It's been fine, just more effort to put it together especially when you run out and it's freezing outside!
We use a mix of peat free and our own compost like @hatty123. I haven’t used a peat based compost for years and haven’t had any problems with germination except for when I used a GC own brand a couple of years ago. We use New Horizon and Jacks Magic, whichever we can get at our local GC
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
Bags of compost are not consistent year by year. In my post here 2015 I said I was using Levingtons and just started using an Irish compost as well. The Levingtons has deteriorated since then, so I used the Irish one only. Last year as I was shielding I had some compost delivered, it was Levingtons. It’s still not very good so I’m mixing the two.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
I'm trying to persevere with peat-free, although the inconsistency is very trying, to say the least. They had Jack's Magic in our local B&Q today. It says on it "traditional blend" which I assume means high peat content although the labelling wasn't especially clear. I resisted the temptation to buy some.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
So after a disaster with "PEAT FREE" have found out MANY nursery's local to me are all stating "many complaints from keen gardeners"about this killing off gardening NOT just for beginners but intermediates too!!,why hasnt anyone else moaned about it
Posts
Peat free composts are depressingly inconsistent. If they were always light and fluffy and drained quickly, we could get used to a different watering regime. I've been plodding on using peat free composts for everything except seed sowing, and find them OK in terms of plant establishment and growth, but it's difficult to get the balance between too dry and soggy. Fortunately during lockdown I've had time to assess each plant individually.
I'm afraid I've not found a totally peat free seed compost in which tricky things will germinate satisfactorily.
East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
In my post here 2015 I said I was using Levingtons and just started using an Irish compost as well.
The Levingtons has deteriorated since then, so I used the Irish one only.
Last year as I was shielding I had some compost delivered, it was Levingtons. It’s still not very good so I’m mixing the two.