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I bought some westland black magic compost yesterday, 2x60l for £10.
Jack's Magic? Or voodoo compost?
I went on a wild goose chase for NH multipurpose. The two nearest garden centres where I usually buy it have stopped stocking it. Managed to track some down at a third GC. IT has been rebranded under the Arthur Bowers label and is now in a gren and white bag as opposed to the familiar purple and green bags. Was £12 for 150 litres (3x50litre) 8p a litre. Was assured it's the same but haven't opened a bag yet so can't tell, but it did smell the same in the back of the car.
The co co coir from h0mebargains is very good for seed germination,with peas for example,the soil doesn't stay soaked like seed compost. Excellent germination success,not so good with John innes seed compost! Surprising but true. Potting on I just used normal mpc.
I needed a bag today, my local place had run out of Jacks Magic so I bought a bag of Miracle Grow enriched, low peat content.
What rubbish fibrous lumps as big as house bricks that had to be chopped up with vigorous blows from the trowel. If they call that a premium compost they must set their sights very low indeed.
Potty by name Potty by nature.
By appointment of VeggieChicken Member of the Nutters club.
We hang petty thieves and appoint great ones to public office.
I have tried 4 sorts this year so far. Westland MPC, Wickes own brand MPC, a no name one from the garden centre and lastly Clover MPC which I bought from the local allotment shop, on the advice of the guys that run it.
The Clover MPC is by far the best.
It was £14 for 3 bags (75 litres each) just over 6p per litre.
It was the last one I bought. Seeds are germinating well in it and the tomatoes I have potted on into it which germinated in the Westland are suddenly very, very happy. It fluffs up easily and I have found no lumps, chunks or foreign matter.
B&q verve compost has been alright this year. Bought some Wilkos seed compost and all sorts of weeds came up in it, nettles etc, also got a bag of levintons with added added John innes which was the worst compost I've ever had, huge bits of concrete and wood etc etc
Can you basically put anything into a black bag and call it compost? are there standards or anything that have to be met as it seems very poor that you can't just buy something of decent quality.
Draining characteristics of B&M Easigrow growbags
Hi! Firstly, can i offer my thanks for all the work the various contributors have done on this.
My question relates to the draining of these materials - specifically the growing material in the B&M easigrow growbags that we bought this year, which seems to have come out quite well in contributor's opinions in this thread.
I made sure that the material was thoroughly 'uncompacted' before planting, and they SEEMED to drain OK initially, but recently this has stopped, and, not realising it immediately, i have overwatered them. I've tried punching more holes into the very bottom of the sides of the bags, with very limited effect, and about 10 hours ago i scooped the, beginning to get smelly, material at each end of the growbags out, to provide a 'sump', but even this doesn't seem to have helped much - i still have the tomato plants in saturated material, and precious little in the sumps. Obviously, things might improve over the coming days, but ........
The strange thing is that i have one B&M Easigrow growbag from 2014, as well as these ones bought earlier this year, and THAT one doesn't seem to have the same problem.
Has anyone else noticed this effect with these 'post-peat' materials? Is it even something that the suppliers consider - following on from the previous contributor's question about whether there is any real control over what is sold?
just been to our allotment shop.i use humax £5 for 60 litres. it/s perfect for seeds and i/ve used it for years.you get what you pay for. happy growing. plumber.
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