Peat free compost , ideas for next year.

[Paranoidandroidmarvin]

So I had to use peat free compost this year. And as of next year peat will be gone.

After trying to move my garden around. I really cannot put a compost bin it as I have a really small garden.

Is there anything I can buy next year to add to the peat free compost to make it better. My baskets and planters are really struggling next year.

Is leaf mould the answer?
The trouble is that leaf mould takes time to make. The stuff you want to use next year should have been started last year, or even before that!

I’m interested too because the seeds I’ve grown, plug plants and hanging baskets are utterly awful this year.
I do have two compost bins but the slow worms are breeding in them so I can’t disturb them 🙄
I dread having the same problem next year, such a massive waste of money.

I've been mixing it with John Innes No2 or even No3.
The bags of peat free that I bought last year didn't seem too bad but this year it's been much worse. I've found pieces of wood, thick twigs, plastic and even a wire!

Seedlings haven't been great this year.

I find a lot of the peat free stuff is sold barely composted. Buying the year before you want it improves it considerably, but that does rely on having space to store it.

This https://www.envii.co.uk/shop/envii-compost-probiotic/ is supposed to help break it down properly in a few weeks - although it won't deal with wires and plastic.

I bought peat-free tomato grow-bags for the first time this year and I’m afraid I’m not happy with them at all, to the point of going back to the garden centre and getting normal ones instead.

If they’re all peat-free next year I won’t be happy, I’m afraid, even though I do normally try to avoid peat.

I've been using pest free for years, because I started gardening after the peat issue was well known. I think it's the weather that's the problem this year. Some of my flowers have struggled.

Otherwise, beware overwatering! Peat-free looks bone dry in the first inch but is holding more water than normal compost underneath. I water daily for seeds but leave it longer once plants get going.

I listened to a podcast about compost. I can't remember if it was gardeners world, RHS or Sarah Raven as I listen to all three (brilliant when you can't get to sleep). The host and guest were talking about peat in compost and compared it to steroids. They admitted that plants thrived in peat but said that in their experience, plants grown in peat-free were slower to grow but more resilient. I can't be certain but I think the guest was the herb lady, Jekka, who has been growing peat free for decades.