Quality of purchased compost

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vivienz
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I recently bought a bulk bag of compost from Compost Direct as we need quite a bit with setting up the new kitchen garden. Also, most of the garden centres, etc. had closed by the time we were ready for it, so this seemed like a good idea.
I've had loads of different proprietary brands of compost over the years, and the stuff that Aldi and Lidl sell in the spring. Mostly fine, although the cheaper peat free stuff can be a bit lacking.
Anyhow, my bulk compost (veggie gold) is described as a mix of compost, manure and topsoil and supposed to be perfect for vegetable beds. I shan't be buying it again as it's awful stuff. Full of stones (some bigger than a really big baking potato), broken glass and clods of clay. I shall get through it and use it up, but the quality is very poor and not what I was expecting at all.
Prior to the arrival of the plague, I had been planning to get a bulk delivery of the green waste compost from Viridor (not too far from us in Somerset) but they had closed by the time I needed it.
Does anyone else have experience of bulk compost orders and are there any they would recommend?
Westi
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I just buy as needed & not in bulk so sorry! The only thing I note is I find a beauty one year but not consistent the next year!
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Geoff
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I'm a naughty boy I only buy peat based compost, Clover Professional Seed and Multipurpose from Gro-Well Direct, lovely stuff. Had a pallet load early in the year of compost and fertiliser, only do it every 2 or 3 years when I can get up to the high free shipping figure by restocking with fertiliser. In between I buy some of the Erin products but they aren't as good. I make a lot of compost from soil, leafmould and sand with a rotasieve. Gro-well are shut down.
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retropants
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My local garden centre finally delivered my compost order yesterday. I am currently using jacks magic mixed with a bit of sand for seeds. For potting on I add some John innes no.3. Everything growing well so far. I have now finally sowed the carrot seeds - in a large 30L bucket. Mix of old grow bag, jacks, no3 and sand.
Monika
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I like Erin but since no longer enjoying car transport, we have had Arthur Bowers Multipurpose delivered, which is ok but does seem to vary from year to year (and occasionally from bag to bag). I always buy some John Innes No 3 as well as rotted farmyard manure which I add to the Arthur Bowers for the large pots of potatoes and courgettes.
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JohnN
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I've been using Jacks Magic, which seems OK, but forgot to purchase the No3 for potting on. Would giving the JM a dose of Phostrogen or dilute chicken manure turn it into roughly No3?
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oldherbaceous
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Dear Vivienz, have you phoned, or emailed the company to tell them how bad the compost is, as that is certainly not acceptable!
It should all be going through a certain sized screen/mesh, to stop that happening...but it sounds like that hasn't been done.
I'm often amazed these days, at just how good some companies are at trying to put things right...
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.

There's no fool like an old fool.
vivienz
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I did think about it, OH, but I can use it around the place and I shall just vote with my feet. I've got a good source of screen topsoil, which is considerably cheaper, so I shall just use that for the time being. It seems far better quality than the compost.
It's just such a pity that a company that purports to specialise in compost should turn out such an inferior product. The stones and pebbles are all the way through it so I suspect that this is their level of quality. Disappointing, nonetheless.
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