Gardening without buying compost

[Small pumpkin]

I've cut down a lot on MPC buying this year. Limited myself to 10 bags.

I feel I should explain, because reading that back, doesn't sound like I've cut down at all

I usually go through about 30 bags of MPC

[Bren In Pots]

Weeding a seed tray wouldn't take long!

Problem with small seeds is knowing which are weeds and which aren't, bean seedling are much easier to spot than mixed lettuce.

[B Porcupine]

I am lazy and usually buy 6-8 bags/year of MPC, so not too much expenditure. It is used for seed starting and flower pots, mostly. I sometimes mix it with homemade compost and/or soil, depending on the use. No leaves here to use for compost - too windy, they end up in Norfolk!

This year I have been using Westland's New Horizon peat free and it seems to be going very well; no probs and plants are growing well. There are other peat-free MPCs, just not available locally to me, so I have not tried them. Used compost goes in the home compost bin or as a mulch in the garden at the end of the season.

[Baldy]

I'm down to 12 bags this year for £20
My home composting is improving - moved back to using daleks rather than big pallet composter and I seem to be able to handle that better
Reusing more of last years mpc - adding comfrey / chicken poop etc. and then adding that back to the compost bins when done.
Aiming to only buy 6 bags next year...

[Thelma Sanders]

10 bags for me this year, but they are only 45L as I can't lift the bigger bags nowadays, so a big reduction in quantity. I agree the quality can vary from bag to bag of the same product - let alone between different brands
For all the big seeds, eg peas, beans and squash, I've used it 50:50 with plot soil, which is quite sandy. It's obvious with these which are weeds and easy to pinch those out.
It keeps cost down, plus I've found bean germination much better with soil in the mix. Result!

I think I may play with my old slow-cooker to see if that does kill weed seeds properly - worth a go!

PS I've just thought though - this will also kill soil bacteria which I think is what is helping bean germination? Perhaps I should just try sowing them all direct, but this means a delayed harvest in our climate.

[1Bee]

I've used a lot the last two years, but I've set up the equivalent of 8 raised beds. I've always been short of good growing medium, but now I'm digging out a spot in the hedge corner I've suddenly got tons of glorious, leaf-mouldy top soil.

I'm mulling over keeping some of it for next year's sowing and potting on, but how to store most effectively?

I think I'll turn one of the raised beds into a seed bed for next year... leeks, brassicas, salads etc could all be started this way, yes? Basically almost anything I usually start in a seed tray?

Need to do some more mulling over.

[rary]

One other thing that was used a lot when I was a bit younger was loam, which is, for those not familiar with it, is turf cut and stacked upside down and left for about a year till the grass rotted, turning it upside down killed off the grass and a number of annual weeds

[Cadalot]

Nagging question - why do we need to sterilise compost?
We don't sterilise the garden beds before sowing direct.

So think about it you want nice organic matter and you intend to put it in the oven or the microwave and kill all the organisms and friendly bacteria in it and then expect plants to flourish? Better growing green manure cut and drop and dig into the existing beds than buying compost for beds. I'm just increasing my production of compost and bringing a second composting dalek army on line. I already have an acidic compost production facility on the go for my raspberries etc.

[B Porcupine]

How do make acidic compost?? I never knew this was possible.

[Snoop Puss]

I usually buy two 80 litre bags, around 9 euros apiece. Surrounded by leaf mould but never take any because we're not supposed to. Don't suppose the forestry agent would ever know, mind.

I'm not sure that sand would work out cheaper, but I'm intrigued, Rary: do you sow seeds directly into sand? Or do you add MPC or homemade compost to it?

Also interested, like B Porcupine, in your acidic compost production, Cadalot.

[Snadger]

VC - you need to buy more MPC

You could get a cheap second hand slow cooker / pressure cooker and sterilise some soil with that.

…. and get the electric or gas board to give you your fuel for nowt!

[Snadger]

I used to make my own John Innes type compost with un-sterilised loam. Now I am too lazy and just chuck a couple of Poundland's finest in the trolley, now and again.

[Jimny14]

Ive had a productive couple of hours sorting out some home made compost.
Have been turning and reorganising the daleks. I'm trying to be more organised in the was I'm composting as it's been a rather ad hoc affair before.
Anyway I turned one dalek and shuffled a load of stuff around and came away with 4 animal feed bags of this stuff (suitably sieved to get the big lumps of uncomposted browns out).

[Scarlet]

As a child I used to get sent out collecting molehills. The nice piles of fluffy well dug soil all went in a bucket, and that was mixed with MPC for seedlings.

I used molehills last year for some plants - I even used it to pot on my Dorset Naga which I over wintered. OMG it is so heavy!! I wanted to pot it up into a new bigger pot this year but it's so heavy I've just left it.

I use homemade compost for most stuff.
Seeds I can't start off without the bought MPC cos I get weeds growing in everything
I've bought 3 bags this year which isn't too bad I don't think.

[Thelma Sanders]

Historically the 'old boys' used to sterilize loam on a dencher bonfire (it's a Kent dialect word) for mixing with compost/leafmould to sow seeds in.