Compost Questions

[Lolapeg91]

I'm pretty fed up with the poor quality of multi purpose compost. So this year I want to grow with something better but I don't want to make my own.

1. What is the best brand of soil in your opinion and where is the best place to buy?

2. Can I use soil from the garden just as it is?

3. If I add sand into my mix, what kind of sand?

4. Does veg grow better in peat or peat free compost? I've only ever tried peat.

5. In terms of bags of soil (top soil not compost) that you can buy. Can I use that? Is it any better?

I have containers and raised beds.

Thanks for any help

[ameno]

For raising young plants, compost is better than soil. Soil is too dense and heavy, and is not sterile, so you'll get lots of weed seedlings coming up, and may also get more seedlings dying to fungal diseases or tiny slugs.
I use Melcourt Sylvagrow and it always performs well, and it's well reviewed by consumer organisations, too.

For growing veg for cropping (in large containers, for exmaple), soil is better. It holds water and nutrients better than compost. Garden soil is absolutely fine, and indeed is superior to most bags of bagged top soil, which are very often not actually top soil at all, but simply a mixture of fine sand and compost.
If you want more soil and don't have enough in your own garden, look on Facebook marketplace. People are always giving away soil for free there (sometimes rubbish subsoil, but often good topsoil), especially now that the weather should be warming up and people are more likely to be doing bigger landscaping jobs.

If you want to add sand, sharp sand is better. Fine sand tends to clump together and make solid layer which water can't penetrate. Any old cheap sharp sand is fine, like from a builder's merchant. It's a myth that you must use horticultural sand.

The only inherent different between peat and peat-free composts is there water holding abilities (peat is better in that regard). In terms of everything else, how they perform is dependent on what other things are mixed in, especially on the fertiliser mix used (peat naturally has no nutrients at all).
I would recommend neither for large containers, though. Use soil if you can, or a soil/compost mix.
Personally, I use a mixture of garden soil and well-rotted manure in the big tubs I grow my peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc. in and they always seen to do well.

[Lolapeg91]

For raising young plants, compost is better than soil. Soil is too dense and heavy, and is not sterile, so you'll get lots of weed seedlings coming up, and may also get more seedlings dying to fungal diseases or tiny slugs.
I use Melcourt Sylvagrow and it always performs well, and it's well reviewed by consumer organisations, too.

For growing veg for cropping (in large containers, for exmaple), soil is better. It holds water and nutrients better than compost. Garden soil is absolutely fine, and indeed is superior to most bags of bagged top soil, which are very often not actually top soil at all, but simply a mixture of fine sand and compost.
If you want more soil and don't have enough in your own garden, look on Facebook marketplace. People are always giving away soil for free there (sometimes rubbish subsoil, but often good topsoil), especially now that the weather should be warming up and people are more likely to be doing bigger landscaping jobs.

If you want to add sand, sharp sand is better. Fine sand tends to clump together and make solid layer which water can't penetrate. Any old cheap sharp sand is fine, like from a builder's merchant. It's a myth that you must use horticultural sand.

The only inherent different between peat and peat-free composts is there water holding abilities (peat is better in that regard). In terms of everything else, how they perform is dependent on what other things are mixed in, especially on the fertiliser mix used (peat naturally has no nutrients at all).
I would recommend neither for large containers, though. Use soil if you can, or a soil/compost mix.
Personally, I use a mixture of garden soil and well-rotted manure in the big tubs I grow my peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc. in and they always seen to do well.

Thank you so much for your advice. I got a bag of Sylvagrow today for my seedlings, I was already eyeing up this brand as it looks good quality.

I will use a mix of garden soil and sand. So when I put my raised beds down (they are around 20cm tall) I don't need to add any soil to the bed do i? I can just fork in and turn over the soil that's there already and will that be ok?
Do I need to add anything on top of the beds like a top soil or a mulch of some sort?

Thank you

[ameno]

You don't necessarily need to add any extra material to a raised bed, but it's best to try and fill whatever you are using as a frame, so if it's short you probably should top it up with something. A mulch of organic matter is best (well rotted manure or garden compost is best. Bagged compost is best avoided unless you have no other options, not because it is bad for the job, but just because you'll need a lot of it so it will get expensive), or failing that, top it off with top soil.

[rary]

If you have the facility for sterilising your soil, garden soil can be used, mixed with course washed concrete sand and some home made compost or leaf mould, before peat based compost came on the market we used to put a tin sheet over a fire and turn the soil a couple of times to sterilise it, I have also used an air fryer for this, but was getting my electricity free, 10min. in the air fryer worked for me

[mrsbusy]

"Iwill use a mix of garden soil and sand. So when I put my raised beds down (they are around 20cm tall) I don't need to add any soil to the bed do i? I can just fork in and turn over the soil that's there already and will that be ok?
Do I need to add anything on top of the beds like a top soil or a mulch of some sort?"

I think the idea is to not disturb the soil if possible but to add some mulch on top of the soil and plant into that.

[mrsbusy]

Has anyone tried using coir to add some bulk for mulching?

[rary]

"Iwill use a mix of garden soil and sand. So when I put my raised beds down (they are around 20cm tall) I don't need to add any soil to the bed do i? I can just fork in and turn over the soil that's there already and will that be ok?
Do I need to add anything on top of the beds like a top soil or a mulch of some sort?"

I think the idea is to not disturb the soil if possible but to add some mulch on top of the soil and plant into that.

Not sure if I have understood what you are doing correctly, are you puting a 20cm. frame round your bed space then either turning the soil and mixing in some course sand, which will raise the soil level slightly but not by much, so you would need to add something to increase the level, if I was doing that I would cover the ground inside the frame with any organic material I could find, it wouldn't need to be composted, ( composted material would be used in the top layer) just make sure there is no big lumps, tree/bush shreddings would be ideal, scatter some manure chicken pellets or similar over it, then cover with layers of cardboard or newspaper, cover that with a mix of soil, course sand and any compost that I had or buy, if I was buying compost it would be the cheapest that I could find, whither it is coir or whatever as all its for is opening up the soil and adding bulk, plant in that, then top up with compost in the following years,

[Jungle Jane]

Has anyone tried using coir to add some bulk for mulching?

Mixed with soil or compost some people do but I haven’t used it for mulching,I used it a few years ago for germinating some basil seeds in a pot,the seeds germinated fine. Coir has no nutrients but the seed leaves have enough food for the seedlings to produce the first true leaves then I think I fed them with a liquid seaweed fertiliser. Compost has about four weeks of nutrients worth. I watered/fed all plants the same seedlings in coir & the seedlings in compost pots. It didn’t seem as strong as compost/soil,I can’t imagine broccoli feeling stable in a large amount of coir?

[Muddy_Boots]

I've used coir myself its ok for germinating seeds in but as a growing medium its not. I've used it on my old allotment plots to add some substance to the soil and to aid drainage because of the very nature of the stuff (its basically shredded dried coconut husks). Most of the coir you can buy now has other things added like charcoal so it isn't just pure coir any more. I'm not a fan of the stuff myself but its each to their own.