On 30/03/2015 23:51, David Hill wrote:
On 30/03/2015 13:40, David wrote:
On Sun, 29 Mar 2015 10:23:15 +0100, Broadback wrote:

I use a lot of compost every year, 4-5 large bags. the last 2 years of
so it has been a PITA. It is so compressed that I am spending more time
and energy loosening it it using it. Has anyone else experienced this?
Is there a commonly available make that is not usually compressed, of
have you some easy way to loosen it? TIA

I had a family friend of my parents (a pseudo-Uncle, if you like) who was
a keen gardener.

He used to make bulk compost using a small electric cement mixer.

Remembering this, it occurred to me that if you really wanted to break up
commercial compost, and especially if you wished to mix your own by
adding
to the compost, then if you have storage then buying all your compost at
the start of the season, then hiring a mixer for half a day might be
feasible.

In the past I have hand mixed (on a spot board with a shovel) commercial
peat/peat free potting compost, JI No. 3, farmyard manure, GroMore and
chicken manure.

It would be much easier to do this with a mixer if I had a large storage
box to keep this in.


Cheers


Dave R


Using a cement mixer wont break up the lumps, if anything it will make
more.
I make my own compost using a mixer but all the ingredients go through a
1 cm mesh sieve that I made to fit a barrow.
If you are worried about having your compost solid in the bags then if
you go and buy your compost pick bags from the top of the pallet that
haven't been compressed.
Machine Mart sell a rotary sieve which I find worse than useless.

I notice Monty incorporates vermiculite into his compost. I find it
overcomes most texture related problems and is a bit of a magic bullet
for me in a small garden.