Awful compost this year

[DustyLee123]

I’ve seen multiple TikToks about the awful potting compost this year, and I agree but I bought what I thought was a good brand.
So next year, is it possible to make your own?

I always make my own- grass clippings, weeds without roots (that go in the bin) layers of corrugated cardboard in between green layers, local horse manure. Empty bins in turn (got 9) every two years.

Absolutely....we have 3 huge mulchers in the garden, grass cuttings, leaves, weeds, raw leftovers and a layer of cardboard every so often.

I started using my own compost for potting during Covid, when I hadn't got any, shops were closed, and it didn’t seem fair on the delivery guy to order online. It would probably be better to add soil, but I don’t have any accessible soil in summer.

I’ve made compost for >30 years at this garden. 3 bins, one having stuff added, one maturing, one emptying. I think it’s developed a good range of bacteria and fungi, it certainly produces good compost. I don’t turn it, except when I’ve emptied a bin and dump the unrotted stuff on top of the next bin into it.

Weeds (all my weeds are spread throughout the garden anyway, so I don’t worry about roots and seeds), grass cuttings, soft prunings, veg waste, tea bags, coffee grounds, tissues, soft paper and card, bones once they’ve been well boiled for stock - anything compostable.

Yes, forgot, a good layer of leaves in all of them in autumn, and another layer of cardboard. I go to local kitchen place to get some when I run out.

Noticed the same - twiggy, clumpy, doesn't hold moisture. Is it because it's peat free?

Sadly we don't have enough garden/kitchen waste to make our own.

Not even if you add in paper waste?

The guidelines for using peat free are different. Fertilise from the start rather than from 6 weeks. Water little and often, rather than larger amounts less frequently. It may be helpful to use drip trays so any water that runs through can be reabsorbed.

Part of the problem is that we’ve got used to using composts with peat and try to use peat-free exactly the same way.

Even though it’s harder, I can’t justify to myself damaging peat bogs (a better carbon sink than forest) for the sake of recreational gardening

The new stuff looks like shredded fence panels, it doesn’t hold water, and there doesn’t seem to be a soil content to it. The water comes out dark brown.

I bought some bags of Westlands Jacks Black Magic & some from Levingtons compost & both were fine.

That's interesting - I bought a bag of the Black Magic stuff yesterday. Will see how it goes.

MereDintofPandiculation, it would be about 75% paper waste unfortunately! I may see if I can collect some leaves this autumn and give it a try though.

I just don’t have a big enough garden for the huge mulchers and 9 compost bins mentioned by PPs. I can manage a small compost bin, but it’s nowhere near enough. I have to buy ready made and this year is awful. The water just goes straight through, and hardly any of my seeds germinated.

I would love a reference to the 9 compost bins mentioned by PPs

Bearing in mind that the EU haven't banned peat free compost, and Ireland still has peat fired power stations, I think the ban is OTT. Extraction is carefully managed, although GW would like you to believe that industrial diggers are out there plundering wildlife peat bogs, but that's not happening. They never seem to worry about peatland being dug up to out up wind turbines or new houses either. It's just us gardeners who are the baddies. Like others with big gardens it's expensive to buy bags in and I can make my own, but if your garden is too small for that then how many bags a year do you use?

I think it would be better to be much more careful about how it is used, and reuse more of it. You do have to water it far more often, the trick is to try and stop it drying out too much or the water just goes right through. The last few years water hasn't really been a problem but another year like 2020 could be very problematic.

@MereDintofPandiculation Fungipie, above, states “Empty bins in turn (got 9) every two years.”

I don’t think that’s usual! And if she has 9 bins to cope with the volume of material she produces, she’d be better off with 3 larger bins. The amount of heat generated is proportional to the volume.

3 is ideal, but plenty of people cope with 1.