View Single Post
  #2   Report Post  
Old 27-08-2012, 03:42 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening
Pete C[_3_] Pete C[_3_] is offline
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Apr 2011
Posts: 146
Default Lidle peat free compost


"David WE Roberts" wrote in message
...
The Lidl peat free compost looks much like the local authority soil
improver.
Very coarse grained, and has the warning that you should use very strong
gloves when working with it.
This could suggest that it is from recycled plant material and so could
have 'foreign objects' in it.
Don't know, but I don't recall seeing this kind of warning on other
composts.

Anyway, it does not retain water well and so needs either frequent
watering or some kind of deep tray under a pot to catch the water and let
it be absorbed over a period of time.

I had a pot of wilting sunflowers which have much improved with this
treatment - other two pots had 'normal' compost in them.

A pot with an outdoor cucumber was also not doing well.
Pot is now in a plastic tub and the cucumber has sprung back to life.

So be warned - possibly O.K. as a soil improver but questionable for use
on its own in large pots.


I recently bought 48 pansys. 36 were planted in a raised bed with B&Q peat
free compost. The rest in clay soil. Those in the soil are fine, those in
the compost have all died. There are also masses of weeds in that bed. BE
WARNED!

--
Pete C