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Compost re-used

To all our experts - I need advise on the issue of compost.

having a small patio I keep it full of flowers by changing plant pots through the summer. LOts of flowering bulbs! 

After the bulbs have flowered Can I reguvenate the compost by removing the bulbs and adding blood fish and bone meal and  NPK. This is because it is cheaper and easier than carrying new bags of compost. Am I heading for failure?

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  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,146

    Is this Multi-purpose compost or loam based - Im presuming  it's MPC.

    I find the MPC breaks down and becomes dusty quite quickly.   I'd perhaps re-use it once, but no more than that.  I'd also go through it carefully to ensure that no vine weevil grubs were lurking ready to eat my plants' roots.

    I think Fish, Blood and Bone would provide sufficient nutrition to re-charge the compost - I'd then use some tomato feed when watering flowering annual bedding plants to keep the flowers coming.

    Let us know how you get on image


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Thank you Dove, 

    the compost is half john Innes no 3 and half multi purpose mixed. this will be its second year. This year I will water the lilies with liquid sea weed, and when they have flowered would like to take them out and give the compost a boost, and then replant straight away for next year. 

    Does that sound ok?

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