Which is the best value multipurpose compost this year? (2013) Which to avoid?

[Olorin2001]

The best value compost has to be the stuff you make yourself, made to suit you needs, and you know exactly what is in it.

[bravo2zero]

been using premier horticulture seed and modular compost for seeds and their mpc, top stuff absolutely no complaints.

[chefgage]

I use Erins multi purpose compost every year. It costs £10 for 4 bags (200 litres in total) from my local garden centre. The good thing is it is the same price year in year out. It has a slightly course nature but I sieve/riddle it for sowing in modules. I also grow.my poatoes in it and use it as a top dressing on my raised beds, so it certainly is multi purpose

[hellybore]

I bought the 125 litre B&Q Verve multi-purpose compost this year, at £5.98 it is good value but I have come across quite a few bits of plastic in it so far.

[Chomerly]

I purchased a few bags of the B&Q MPC a couple of months back and I found it to be full of all sorts of rubbish.
I sieved it all out and added some perlite to help with the drainage and then mixed that with a better quality pre-sieved MPC just to improve it.

I found that the worst compost I've had so far has been the John Innes seed and cutting compost.
It was terrible and wouldn't clump together as you would expect.
The sand content in it was really high and made germination rates unpredictable.
The John Innes No.1 wasn't much better and the soils only began to improve with No.2 and 3.

On the flip side of that, the Verbe peat free compost from B&Q is excellent.
It's light and fluffy and has some good drainage.
There is a fair bit of bark in it but is easily picked out.

Their ericaceous compost has an excellent texture to it and seems great on the surface.
That being said though, I'm struggling to understand it at the moment as the soil is supposed to be more acidic but my pH meter gives me more or less the same readings as their regular MPC.

I'm not sure why this as I have a Blueberry bush that will need potting up soon and it needs a more acidic soil.
The last thing I want to do is put it in to regular compost which will harm it.

[dim]

my local garden centre alsways has an open bag of all the composts that they sell, so that people can look at it closer before commiting to buy

I know it's different when buying from places such as B&Q etc, but they should open a bag

I use imported composts from a local hydroponic store .... approx £10 per bag depending on what you buy (they have a few different ones available) .... but I don't buy much (I only use it when landscaping gardens ... i.e. I add some to the planting holes of shrubs/perennials, and the client pays for it)

but many people shop there for the vermicompost (worm humis) .... it costs £8 for a 10kg bag, and they mix some of this with the cheaper composts that are bought from B&Q etc..... its very good stuff

[Beanz]

I have also found the JA Bowers compost to be rubbish this year. In fact it has been getting steadily worse over the past few years. This is the last year I will buy it. I suspect that it's main constituent is what we put into our recycling bins, including all the bad bits! It's a good scam, we pay to have it collect and then we buy it back off of them! It is supposed to have added John Innes, how much I wonder?

[The Allotment Shed]

Aldi seed sowing compost is by far the best I've used this year £1.49 per bag and it is selling rapidly at my local store. It is brilliant value. No lumps and no tree trunks in it.
If you find some at your store then buy plenty of it because it flies out of the shop.
It really is good stuff


Remember, a bad day at the allotment is still better than a good day at work!

[VirginVegGrower]

I use B and Q Verve seed and sowing compost. I add in a bit of Rockdust too. Love it and have no issues.

[hawthorns]

countrywide own brand compost is superb stuff £8 for 100 ltrs

[Penellype]

I've used Fison's Levington for years, but this year I bought some of their seed compost which was full of large chunks of bark and twigs, and grew a white mould on the top. Several of my early sowings didn't germinate in it at all (including the reliable Little Gem lettuce and Hurst Greenshaft peas). The man at the garden centre said he had had all sorts of complaints about Levington this year and he had stopped stocking it as a result. He recemmended Westland multipurpose, which was at least less chunky than the Levington, although I do find it tends to go mouldy if its wet. It also needs quite a bit of pressing down before you plant in it, otherwise you end up with about half a pot full after watering.

Agree wholeheartedly about home made compost, but how do you stop slugs and snails laying eggs in the compost heap?

[Martin H]

None of the ones I've tried over the last few years have been up to much. I guess it's because I go for the cheapest multi-bag offer I can find.

This year I've used Verve and Tescos, nothing much to choose between them - they are both lumpy and tend to suck up too much water. They work okay mixed with soil when planting stuff out though.

[Sheneval]

As above
B&Q Verve has been the best i have found this year...
125 litre bag £5.98
which is good as in my setup this year i need 30 bags of it

B&Q Verve is just about the best buy I have found, although I got 3 bags of Azda total 210L for £10 but the Azda was not as good as the Verve - recently I got 3 bags 150L from Home Bargains for £6 but haven't tested the quality yet.

[ploshkin]

I've also given up on Levington after using for many years. It is now full of rubbish and actually boasts on the bag that it is 'enriched with recycled material'. I'm a long way from anywhere that sells compost so have been using Westland as it is the only one that the nearest nursery sells. I've found no problems with it so far.

[leonmc0708]

Do you have a B&M near you ?

they had one for 99p for 15ltr - was excellent I found and mixed with some topsoil its got my stuff flying