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Post by Rosie on May 19, 2011 13:06:17 GMT
Merlin suggested having a thread for making your own compost and i thought it was a great idea.
So if you have a recipe or a certain technique you use, post it here ;D
My main tip is to chop the material you add as small as possible and have the biggest heap you can manage as it will heat up better..
Over to you forumites ;D
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Post by sweetpea on May 19, 2011 13:34:41 GMT
There are two different 'Composts' which sometimes confuse people. 1. garden compost which is the stuff we get from plant material broken down by bacterial action in the compost heap/bin. This is used mainly as a mulch or soil improver or adding to planting holes when planting a shrub or the like.
2. The medium we use for sowing seeds and potting on plants. This can again be subdivided into: soilless compost and compost with soil such as the John Innes formula.
Both of these can be made at home but they still involve cost and labour so why bother when they are easily obtained and reasonably priced?
A simple method for soilless compost is: for every 2 gallon bucket of granulated sedge peat add a teaspoon of Phostrogen and mix well. or you can use moss peat with a little sharp sand or perlite added.
I have used both methods with good results.
For JI composts you use the formula for 'Seed' No1, 2 or 3 Basically different measures of Sterilised loam, peat, sharp sand and JI base fertiliser.
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Post by merlin on May 19, 2011 17:40:06 GMT
I think this topic is going to benefit me, the more I read about your ideas the better. Each one of us probably has different stuff to go into it and there'll be other differences too. In Spring I bought 3 bags of compost and have had to repot everything, unfortunately I'm not sure which bags they were as they're all mixed together. I read one just now and it said all the nutrients your plants need and enough food for 3-6 weeks. OK I accept I can be a bit slow but what's 'nutrients if not food? No wonder the plant labels say feed regularly.
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Post by sweetpea on May 19, 2011 17:56:20 GMT
The bagged compost tends to vary with the amount of nutrients in it. As a general rule the dearest are the best although it can and does vary with the manfacturer. I always use Humax multipurpose compost now as I have found a nearby stockist and the quality is excellent. The worst compost I have personally had experience with was payless from Focus. In fact I'm even reluctant to spread it around the garden as it was so dire. I've still got a 3/4 bagful. i think the same goes for the growbags that we use. There is dfinately a difference in quality though with growbags I have found that as far as tomatoes ar concerned as long as you start supplementary feeding reasonably early on then you get good results. With toms I start feeding at blossom stage.
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Post by scrumpy on May 19, 2011 18:18:08 GMT
I find Humax original very good....totally peat based....and use it for my dahlias. Get through about 10 60L bags Jacks magic is another one i use for leaf vegetables....peat and loam based....use 2 60l bags.
For making up my own recipe composts i use Keith Singletons...totally peat based... With that i make up grow bag compost, carrot compost, onion compost and sweet pea compost. Use 15 60 L bags.
Carrots: one part horticultral sand, one part top soil, two parts compost, all sieved before mixing and adding fertiliser.
Onions: one part john innes no3, 3 parts compost. No additional fertiliser.
Grow bags: one part top soil, three parts compost, not sieved. Additional fertiliser added.
Due to costs, i'm not going to use Singletons next year and get in peat on it's own and make everything up from that using BTD fertiliser and nutrimate and a wetting agent.
So all in all, i get through about 2000l of compost a year.
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Post by merlin on May 19, 2011 18:36:58 GMT
My tomatoes are always delicious and I never use compost or feed OK I don't get 1000 per stem but I simply grow more plants. They're outdoors (with temp protection) and now 4' tall with loads of trusses.
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Post by merlin on May 21, 2011 10:15:17 GMT
I have about 8 dustbins full of old roof straw so I've been mixing it in with my lawn clippings ect. Some I made earlier looks good but I think perhaps I'll add a bit more soil. I've got into the habit of giving them a whirl every day.
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Post by merlin on May 21, 2011 18:19:45 GMT
Some of the food we eat is better for us, I wonder if the same applies to the compost heap. Is there any particular plant/weed that's extra good for it?
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Post by sweetpea on May 21, 2011 18:22:20 GMT
Some of the food we eat is better for us, I wonder if the same applies to the compost heap. Is there any particular plant/weed that's extra good for it? Comfrey leaves and nettle leaves come to mind.
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Post by Cherry on May 21, 2011 18:52:36 GMT
We know comfrey is good for the compost because it has been analysed. There will be others just as good or, even better, which have not been seriously looked at so we don't know what they are.
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Post by merlin on May 21, 2011 19:13:21 GMT
If I had the space I'd grow comfrey, I don't have much green to put in it, apart from grass clippings.
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Post by wildlifefriendly on May 21, 2011 19:13:45 GMT
I don't have a recipe, my compost is seasonal. Right now it is layers of daffodil leaves and grass clippings. If I have quite woody stuff I pile it up until grass mowing day, it then gets layered with grass clippings. I don't add soil as there is never any spare. My compost looks good but it is only used as soil improver, I buy stuff for sowing seeds and potting up.
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Post by Lou78W on May 21, 2011 19:15:27 GMT
I think the secret is a "balance" of ingredients....a bit like a cake recipe
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Post by merlin on May 21, 2011 20:31:47 GMT
I don't have a recipe, my compost is seasonal. Right now it is layers of daffodil leaves and grass clippings. If I have quite woody stuff I pile it up until grass mowing day, it then gets layered with grass clippings. I don't add soil as there is never any spare. My compost looks good but it is only used as soil improver, I buy stuff for sowing seeds and potting up. My aim is not to have to buy it in. I noted that Monty used Sieved garden compost last night. I'd really like to make my own multi- purpose and be able to sieve it for sowing. I did it a couple of years ago and 'weeded' it in my soil sterilizer. It was only on a small scale but it worked and with excellent results. I heard of a gardener who sterilised his on top of his brazier.
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Post by steve on May 22, 2011 14:20:04 GMT
I do make my own with 2 daleks of garden compost and one of leaf mould but just been to fetch 3 x 60 ltr bags of Vitax Q4 from the GC for 9.99....good stuff
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