Compost daft?

Are you bemused by the sheer number of composts on the market?

At West Carlston we are currently stocking 21 types! And that’s not counting 4 types of Growbags!

Years ago we really only had 2 types, Seed and Potting. Then along came Multipurpose which was a hybrid between Seed and Potting.

Now we have these 21 “flavours” of Compost, each one claiming to do a specialised job e.g. Ericaceous Compost, Cactus Compost, Bonsai Compost, etc.

Once again there’s nothing new under the sun. The majority of these Composts are very similar with the ingredients only slightly tweaked.

It’s convenience gardening and there’s nothing wrong with that as such but do we really need 21 flavours?

Some of these flavours of Compost are worthwhile others less so.

Ericaceous Compost is blended without using Lime so is suitable for use with Lime hating plants.

Seed Compost is blended using finer Peat so that the young seedlings can push through it.

Multipurpose Compost is a good all rounder but very much a “jack of all trades master of none” compost.

Potting Compost has the higher levels of fertilizer that more mature plants need.

Cactus Compost has extra sand for increased drainage - but why not add your own sand?

Bonsai Compost is low in fertilizer so as not to stimulate too much growth - but why pay a premium for it?

Do Growbags seem to get smaller every year?

When they first came out they contained about 50 litres of Peat and just enough feeding to get the young tomato plants started.

For years Growbags were used as a loss leader and to keep the price at 99p the size was gradually reduced. Nowadays they are less than 40 litres.

This causes problems with watering and feeding when tomato plants are mature

The good news is that the new “Tomato Planters” are twice the size of the original growbag and are filled with compost.

Well worth giving them a try.

Article provided by Ron from West Carlston Garden Centre in Torrance .

Ron can be contacted at info@westcarlston.com

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