Compost types

[Sportball]

Hi Y,all.

I am in my first year of veggie growing and need some advice on compost. I have started growing growing simple veggies from seed such as cabbages, onions, spinach etc. I am also growing some flowers such as Marigold and Foxgloves etc.

My question is do I need to fork (excuse the pun) out for John Innes seed compost or can I get away with using any old compost or even top soil?

At the moment I am using Multi compost for the bigger seeds and a sieved seed compost for the smaller ones. Is this neccessary as it's costing me a fortune?

Any comments are appreciated

[Capsid]

I use the cheapest multi-purpose compost I can find.

[Two_Sheds]

I used proper John Innes seed compost the once. Didn't like it.

I use multi-purpose now, for everything.

[NOG]

top soil will not have the nutriments and may have pests that will eat your seeds. Go for MP Compost.

I wait till 10% off day then stoc up.

[Sportball]

Isn't MP compost to granular and full of bits of twig etc?

I thought I may need a finer mix for smaller seeds. Do you bother sieving it or just use as is?

[Capsid]

I don't use it for sowing seed if it's too coarse. The peat free MP compost from Homebase was very twiggy. I mixed a bit of loam in with it.

[gojiberry]

I use MPC for everything (have used about 40 bags this year so far). If I am sowing seed then I sieve it first, the bits then go into the bottom of bigger pots when I'm potting on. Untill last week B&Q was £10 for 3 bags but I think that has now stopped.

Ian