old compost

[petlor]

Last year at the end of season all the the container pots i had used i emptied the compost down the bottom of the garden and mixed some chicken manure pellet in with the old compost and left all this winter . Will it be alright to use this year or was it a waste of time?

The compost bags seem to be getting dearer and dearer, thought i might save a few bob.

Any advice please.

[chris]

Do you have your own compost bin? I think that you can add old compost provided it's disease free.. I'm sure someone with more knowledge will be along soon to confirm that- it'd be a good way to recycle it (albeit a bit of a longer process!)

Not sure how a heap of old compost fares (I'd like to know this too) over winter, will the nutrients leek out into the ground below?

[oldie]

If you have had the compost uncovered all winter the rain will have washed the nutrients out. I usually spread used compost as a mulch or put it in the compost bin. As long as you add some more nutrients, chicken pellets, bone meal, BFB etc a few weeks before use it should be ok as long as you did not have any serious diseases in last years crops

[BarleySugar]

I would use fresh compost for seed sowing, but as oldie says, if you add more nutrients, it should be OK for potting up larger plants or growing spuds. I usually add mine to a compost bin, layered with fermented bokashi through the winter, then use it to pot up tomatoes or cucumbers for the greenhouse. The only thing is, OH doesn't really like to see the chicken boanes littered around, where I haven't sieved them out before using it

[petlor]

Thanks all ,Think i will use for the potatoes with a bit more chicken pellet manure .