In 2020, when I took off the lawn, I added bags of manure to our clay soil into the bed that is now the flower bed because this is in sunshine during the summer months. The soil was typical for Oxford clay still sticky, but so far okay. After all the rain this winter, I realise now in these dry condition that the top of the soil is like grey concrete and starts to crack on the top and breaking it apart leads to grey like little canon balls. Originally, after the awful drought in 2022, I had... Which soil improver ..read more

This stuff would be better named "Miracle if anything Gro in this" View attachment 208582 In a bit of desperation, I ordered four bags of this to keep me going as there was no sign of my car coming out of the bodyshop. One assumed (big mistake) that it being a big brand, that it would be good stuff. Absolutely awful! The texture is rough as a badger's backside, woody/twiggy and fibrous, and very course: View attachment 208578 View attachment 208579 ... Miracle Gro MPC - avoid ..read more

Hello! I bought Westland peat free compost today and it turned out to be very brown. Looks like it's not composted properly. I usually get sticks etc. but I don't think it was ever in this state. I was going to plant potatoes in it and repot strawberries. Is it ok and I'm being silly or is it a no no? View attachment 208302 View attachment 208303 ..read more

Good morning I m new to the forum,I recently bought 2 bags of Levington multi purpose peat free compost with added john innes and transplanted my 2nd batch of bizzy lizzy seedlings ,and as of yesterday they were all dead ,i ve already done one batch a couple of weeks ago in PEAT compost and they are thriving and they had same conditions in the conservatory,i m now nervous or unwilling to use the peat free for any other seedlings or the hanging baskets or any potting.Has this been a post on... peatfree compost ..read more

Hello there. In most of my borders, I grow mainly grasses and perennials on sandy, free draining soil with a sandstone bedrock not far below. I don't have room to produce my own compost so I've been buying different blends of compost from a local supplier for a couple of years and applying them in autumn and spring. I'm trying to improve water retention more than anything else and don't want to overfeed as grasses can become a bit lax and prone to weather damage if given too much nitrogen.... Which compost would you use for sandy soil, growing grasses and perennials ..read more

Old thread here Best Supplier Of Compost 2023 ..read more

I have a composter for a few years now. It's nice to compost and my tomato plants really appreciated this compost. And was a huge benefit on saving on buying loads of fresh compost. This year however I got rats (I suppose these are rats, didn't catch any yet) getting into composter from underneath. It's unbelivable how they manage to dig out so much of compost out. They get into composter to eat anything in the top layers. I just secured it with mesh. But they've made a tunnel under mesh to... Rat proofing composter ..read more

hello folks, first post. can i compost cordyline tree leaves? i've just started composting and i'm struggling to fill the composter from my small garden but there's 2 of the trees in the garden that grow really well leaving a fair amount of dead leaves to cut off as they go. i've also just removed a small conifer to make space for the composter, can i put the finer bits off that in there? thanks very much, mike ..read more

I am buying part of a field and I want to cover it with cardboard boxes to kill the grass off over 12 months. Is this viable? Will the glue be biodegrade? Thanks ..read more

Growmore (7-7-7 NPK general purpose fertiliser, various manufacturers): Locally (garden centres) £20 to £23 (10kg tub). Online, delivered, 25kg sack for £29. Worth looking around if (like me!) you're a bit of a skinflint ..read more