Poor compost poor germination iffy weather

[mrgrower]

It's a new growing season compost was bought seeds sown and kept an eye on the weather.

Looking at videos on the net it seems that most people have complained about the quality of the compost being sold from the cheep own brand stuff to the more expensive brand names. No bag has escaped criticism this year and I have my own gripes with it.

Added to this a disgustingly poor germination rate of the seeds been sown I'm not the only one who has noticed this again scout round the net and you see complaint after complaint so I ask myself is it down to the poor growing medium or are the seeds of such poor quality this year?

When things do come up they are either romping away for some or in my case lagging behind and fingers crossed that 3 days of sun don't scorch the seedlings or a frost follows killing what's already gone in.

It can't just be me struggling how are others finding things this year? On a positive note all my Garlic and most of my onions seem to be doing OK at the moment.

Mr G

[Bren In Pots]

Mr G have a read at this thread started by BM :-

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...com_83749.html

lots of different composts have been talked about.

[Potstubsdustbins]

My local place had run out of Jacks Magic so I bought a 60ltr bag of miracle grow, verdict rubbish.

[rary]

Like Potty I am happy with Jacks Magic, but I also have a couple of bags of J.A.Bs multipurpose compost from last year which I mix with course sand 50/50. this is used mainly for cuttings, but I have used it for seeds with good enough results, as for the frost I cover everything with fleece at night, I was away from home for four nights three weeks ago and the temperature in the greenhouse went from +38c to -3c all my seedlings had been covered with fleece and I have had no adverse effects.

[kathyd]

I'd give a lot to be able to buy almost any brand of UK compost over here - they're ALL rubbish, and twice the price you pay in the UK! And that's a permanent state, not just this year . However, you learn to adapt, and things do grow with a little care and patience (not my strong point but I'm learning...). My worst struggle this year is with flower seeds rather than veg, but I've not really tried flowers before and they seem to behave differently. The veg haven't been too bad, although some of the resulting plants aren't as big at this stage as I'd normally expect. And yes, I use English seeds. I've been blaming the weather (who doesn't?), but maybe there's something more sinister going on... it' probably Monsanto's fault .