Forum home Tools and techniques
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Difference between potting mix and compost

2

Posts

  • NoviceHerbsNoviceHerbs Posts: 126

    Dove I know but I want to use organic , so would seaweed be the best for me

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,146

    I'm sure there are lots of books and videos theorising on how to swim, but at some stage you have to put your cozzie on and get in the water. 


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





  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117

    Before it's winter might be a good idea!  image

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • IamweedyIamweedy Posts: 1,364

     Dovefromabove

    I totally agree with your comment.

    "I don't like using Miracle Grow - to me it's a bit like feeding plants on steroids - I prefer to use organic  fertilisers, but that's just my personal preference. plant on steroids etc. "

    The amount of nitrogen in some liquid compost solutions is ridiculous. 24N/4P/K8.  It may make your annual bedding plants grow tall quickly, but from what I understand too much Nitrogen leads to flabby growth.

    Doves "plants on steroids" analogy is spot on. Too many "steroids" don't do anything well.




    'You must have some bread with it me duck!'

  • IamweedyIamweedy Posts: 1,364



    'You must have some bread with it me duck!'

  • TopbirdTopbird Posts: 8,355

    I'd love a composting toilet Phillipa! (that statement makes me sound weird doesn't it?image)

    It would be a little painted sentry box affair and go at the far end of the garden behind the fence next to 2 of the compost bins. 

    Oh the joy of not having to do the cross legged dance when gardening and busting for a pee and desperately trying to lever off muddy welliesimage

    Last edited: 24 April 2017 09:44:06

    Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
  • IamweedyIamweedy Posts: 1,364

    Topbird I have had just had my compost bins hidden behind rose bearing trellis so I have a quiet corner, but when its cold out and you are wearing thermals and are bending up and down frequently. Even a composting toilet would be difficult to use. 

    Life is a lot easier for men where this is considered. A slight failure in the creation of female gardeners. 

    There was an antique china  shewee on the Antiques Roadshow  last night. I saw what it was right away. 

    Perhaps I should change to gardening in skirts .image




    'You must have some bread with it me duck!'

  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,088

    Leaving aside the basic design shortcomings of female gardeners, the old adage is Feed the soil, not the plant.

    If you have the correct growing medium, be it soil in beds or planting composts, your plants will thrive.   The trick is to know what growing conditions your plants like and that leads to another gardening adage - Right Plant, Right Place.

    You can look up each individual plant in good gardening reference books - some of which have already been mentioned in other posts - or you can look at specialist sites such as the RHS or nurseries selling those plants.  Then, as has also been said, get stuck in and plant something and learn from experience.

    Technically speaking, compost is the term for what comes out of a compost heap made by mixing nitrogenous and carboniferous material in the correct ratio with water and heat to get the process going.  However, compost is also used as a general term for planting medium which can be tailored to suit the needs of the plants eg ericaceous, loamy, moisture retentive, low nutrients for seeds and cutting, high nutrients for flowering and fruiting plants, nitrogenous for leafy plants and so on.

    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,146

     I saw that too Iamweedy ... in the village where I used to live the church had some high sided pews for the gentry, facilitating the use of such utensils without the loss of dignity ... not really sure where they were emptied, but I suppose one had a Ladies' Maid to see to such things image

    Mr Google says I guessed correctly https://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/2012/07/16/regency-hygiene-the-bourdaloue/ 


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





  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190

    I never new what those high sided pews were for? I suppose in those days they had to sit through a two hour sermon, anyone would be desperate after that.

    I would suggest the OP goes down to Tesco or Morrisons and buy those herbs in pots, plunge them into bigger pots in any compost she chooses from the local GC or even buy it from Morrisons.

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

Sign In or Register to comment.