Kitchen Garden Forum

I've at last been successful in producing some decent looking garden compost, and now I'm not sure what to do with it, apart from mulching! Can I use it in a mix for growing plants and veg in containers? Any tips gratefully received, cheers Lynda

In a word..............yes.

just don't use it too neat on young plants, perhaps to a mix of 1/4 home made compost maximum.

You would probably find that things like marrows /courgettes / cucumbers might grow in it neat.

Soil improver Itweddle!

Start it's life as a mulch then fork it in at end of season, or just fork it in now. It may have some weed seeds in it if you can't guarantee how hot the heap got, but you can heat it up now either in small batches in the oven or on top of your incinerator & then sieve it for your potting compost.

Hello Lynda
Put it somewhere where it will do the most good such as underneath your runner beans, peas or in the lettuce bed.
Only use it for mulching if you have plenty to spare - like most us though you'll never have enough to spare.
John

Mine will be dug into the brassica and tattie beds this weekend with a view to planting tatties in the next week or so, brassicas are still a long way off from planting yet.

The man on the telly claims to make most of his potting mixes out of it but I'm pretty sure he puts it through some sort of semi-industrial shredder either before composting or to finish it off. Some time ago when thinking about making my own potting mixes I did a bit of a literature survey, this is one example:

• Sieve ordinary garden compost (from your compost heap that is) into a barrow until almost half full.
• Sieve an equal amount of good garden soil into the barrow.
• Add a sprinkling of fish, blood and bone meal. I add a small handful, about two and a half dessert spoons I guess.
• Mix it up.


Alternatively you can just use it as a peat substitute in a John Innes mix:

7 parts by bulk medium loam
3 parts by bulk peat
2 parts by bulk coarse sand


But what is "bulk medium loam" and is your compost pure vegetable matter or does it include some soil from weeds?

I would suggest, if you can dry it a bit (perhaps spread it out in a greenhouse before you put the crops in) then mix it with some similarly dried good soil and sharp sand in the ratio:

4 parts compost
4 parts soil
1 part sharp sand

The easy way to do this is in a rotosieve but it is quite an investment unless you are going to use it a lot, working it through an ordinary garden sieve then mixing it with a trowel should be OK. Sprinkle in a bit of fish, blood and bone to make it sustain things for a bit longer.

Hi,
I use my compost in the bottom of my potato bags since I am never sure just how much seed is in there still, then just top up with some purchased compost. I apply the same technique to pots and bottom of trenches, works well.

Hilary

I grow my tomatoes in homemade garden compost. I read somewhere that tomatoes like nothing more than growing on the decomposing remains of their dead comrades, which I suppose makes perfect sense.

As well as last year's tomato plants, the heap I use gets kitchen vegetable waste, annual weeds, shrub prunings and corrugated cardboard. I do use a shredder for any big/woody stuff that goes on the heap, and I do sieve the compost before use.

No need to add soil, enough gets in on the roots of weeds etc. I do mix about 2 parts compost to 1 grit/perlite/vermiculite (depending on availability !) in a wheelbarrow. And a handful of hoof and horn per barrow full, which I have found to be needed. I suspect incompletely decomposed woody matter might be a cause of nitrogen depletion without.

The down side is that I do have to weed around my tomatoes periodically.