Compost warning!

so sorry to hear of your predicament floydie it is very worrying when we buy things to put our plants in, and in real terms dont know what it is really made of, we just have to have faith in the company that they are genuine, and our own common sense as gardeners that after initial use and contact, we can tell something is not right, like you yourself did, it is getting more and more difficult these days as more often than not, we are being fobbed off with potentially dangerous products, being sold under a famous banner. i am finding this in all areas of retail now. once you have picked yourself up though, i think you could do worse than to get in touch with one of the leading garden mags to put an article in about this, it would also name and shame the company, but give all of us gardener's a heads up on the fact that dodgy products may slip through the net in these stores. i remember reading a few months ago in one of those mags about a dangerous incident when batches of manure were infected with toxins and stuff, and a wide area of people were all affected on their allotments and gardens. considering most of us grow edibles these days as well as flowers now, its quite frightening to think of the consequences if it isnt spotted. other companies that produce foods may also be using below standard product mediums, and if they were to get into the food chain, [in school meals for instance] they it would be horrific.

hope you are feeling better though, anxiety disorder is very very upsetting

We know, we saw the photo

;D

Beechgrove are doing another trial with some new peat free composts, so far I'm not very impressed

That makes sense BB, I read that most Celeb gardeners use peat

Yes I would say so, If there was an alternative better then I would buy it no probs

This is a Hosta I bought that was in one of those coconut eco-friendly pots. As you can see it looks rough so I pulled it out and removed the so-called pot. The roots were struggling to get away and the coconut is still really tough even though I planted it last back end. I've not composted it, I've binned it.