On 5/3/08 09:27, in article ,
"®óñ© © ²°¹°-°²" wrote:

On Tue, 04 Mar 2008 22:29:10 +0000, Sacha
wrote and included this (or some of this):

It's important to use seed compost because it won't over feed your
germinating seedlings. Some/many seedlings won't even germinate in
ordinary
compost and as my husband says, "don't save pennies and waste pounds".

I have absolutely no problem using a "general purpose compost"

(Toms, lettuce, cucumbers etc etc)

Then the OP must choose your personal experience over my husband's
professional experience of 60 years. That's what newsgroups are about -
read the information and make your own choice.
His family grew lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers commercially in Essex before
he moved to Devon.

Absolutely. My very small amount of hands-on use would certainly not
scale up to large scale- professional practice.
Mine works for me, yours for you.
Horses for courses, innit.

Yes and part of gardening is, of course, its failures, too. It's all part
of learning. I think everyone has to push the boundaries a bit to see what
works for them. Years ago, I read a book in which the author described how
she'd asked someone to clean out the stables, intending the manure to be
heaped up and left to rot down a bit. As we are all told, fresh manure
direct onto plants is supposed to 'burn' them. Well, to her horror she saw
her helper had put the manure straight onto her flower beds, inches deep and
she was terrified all her plants were going to be killed off. In fact, they
thrived and grew wonderfully. Whether that sort of thing is a question of
luck or not believing all you read, I don't know!
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'