Council compost and raised bed

[tamsin]

It's worth asking on freecycle too. There might be someone down the road planning a pond this summer that would be happy to have you dig the soil out of their garden and barrow it away Or anyone returfing - you could still the old turf in the bottom to bulk it out.

[Mikey]

Hi Mikeywills
free at Tir John Community Recycling Site,Danygraig Road,St Thomas although you will have to pretend to be a Swansea resident

Thanks bach, do they have a protocol for how much you can take.

Do I need bags, or can I get away with a trailor.

I worked in fforestfach for a few years, and do a tidy winchwen accent

Thanks again swansea girl, definately my tip of the month.

[swansea girl]

Ha Ha Mikeywills it is tidy like innit! that accent will come in handy
haven't been yet but Happy Horticulturist has heard they can be funny if you "take too much" I'd be tempted to try the trailer and if challenged,your using it as not to mess up the car! might get away with "too much" if not challenged

[planesailing]

I wish our council gave away their compost!!
Costs £3 for a 33L bag!

Ouch! I buy my compost for £2.50 for a 75l bag from a garden centre!

The compost from the council is free too.

[Beetroot Bob]

The compost we got free from the council was ok but a bit woody and would need to mixded with soil if you were using it to fill a bed. I was good stuff for mulching tho and my Raspberrys loved it

Taking a tipper lorry next time I head to Swansea to watch the rugby to fill with compost to bring back may not go down to well then

[theusualsuspect]

Hi SwanseaGirl,

They do something similar round our way (East Cambridgeshire) and I put a load on as mulch just last week. The one thing I would suggest is that it needs mixing with something else as it can "burn" plants if you use it neat. I used some to do a bit of earthing up round my new-potatoes and on Saturday morning I was mortified that a lot of the new growth had just frazzled and gone brown.

The place I use has a website page that suggests as much... Compost Collection

Hope that helps some.

[swansea girl]

Thanks all
My raised bed has been put back to tomorrow as I run the battery out on my saw and then blew the battery up while charging it...but the delay has meant that I've acquired new holes in my garden and a bit more soil too...so I definitely will have some to mix with the council compost
Thanks for letting me know it can "burn" plants,I will make sure I mix it well then

I was pleased today as I found a website that said if you squeeze the soil in your hand and it sticks together but then you give it a poke and it falls apart that is the best soil you can hope for...well that's what happened when I tested it...hope I don't mess it up!

[Fred Perry]

My Wife filled a raised bed with shredded paper, kitchen waste, raw horse manure and garden soil, waited a couple of weeks then put her toilet roll peas in, round the outside and across the middle.
We put in stakes about 1m high round outside an strung the stakes very roughly about 100mm,then put fleece around the whole lot.
Last year we had fantastic crop of early peas with no peaworms.
Lernt me lesson..try anything once and dont argue with the boss.
All the best to all,
Fred P

[lindyloo]

our council charged 3.99 per bag last year and i didnt think it was very good- not very well rotted.

[Jacksprat]

£3.99 at ours too and since buying some we have a new sort of weed that we didnt have before.

[nomis]

I'm gonna put my name down for an allotment too but apparently the waiting list is 2 years long!

It is worth putting your name down.

Mine told me there was 43 people in front of me in the queue....e.g. a very long wait. But, after just 8 months I got an email asking me if I wanted it

[chriscross1966]

Try to find out where the composting site is.... opur local council charges 1,50 a bag (about 60 littres as far as I can tell) from their recycling facilities, but the place that does the composting is 28 quid a ton but you have to load it frmo the huge pile yourself.... compost weighs about a third of what water does by volume as far as I can tell so that's a bit less than 30 quid for 3000 litres.... I took my minibus-coverted-to-camper and trailer (500Kg rated load) down there, put three dumpy bags in the camper adn two on the trailer then shoveled compost tiill it got a bit hard to lift high enough to get into the bags (none of the bags were anythign like full).... Went over the weighbridge (they weigh you in and out) and it turned out that in 20 minuites I'd loaded about half a ton....It#'s not bad compost though I'd not use it for seed sowing cos it's a bit coarse but for the price I was happy, the beds that I'm making at my new place are 12x4 and take about 350 litres each, so I'll get four beds out of the load.... will try and get another one either at the end of this week or early next and that should be all the compost I need this year...... If a 14 quid load of compost and some "shovel it yourself for free" stable manure is what it takes each year to keep my garden growing veggies I'll be very happy...

chrisc