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#1
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Spent compost
I've only started gardening this year. I have some raised beds, 3m x 1m
each, in which I'm trying 'square foot gardening' (hampered mainly by the slugs and local cats) and a lot of tubs and pots. What do I do with spent compost from the pots and tubs? I've been doing a form of crop rotation in some tubs - peas followed by carrots, for instance - but I've got a good 100l of compost that I grew potatoes in that I know I can't grow the next set of potatoes in, in case of disease. So what can I do with this compost? I'll use some of it to fill up the raised beds but I can't do that every year. Does it go in the compost bin to help out there? I've just realised I can shove a fair bit of it on the borders but even so, I'll take answers! |
#2
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Spent compost
"Linz" wrote in message ... I've only started gardening this year. I have some raised beds, 3m x 1m each, in which I'm trying 'square foot gardening' (hampered mainly by the slugs and local cats) and a lot of tubs and pots. What do I do with spent compost from the pots and tubs? I've been doing a form of crop rotation in some tubs - peas followed by carrots, for instance - but I've got a good 100l of compost that I grew potatoes in that I know I can't grow the next set of potatoes in, in case of disease. So what can I do with this compost? I'll use some of it to fill up the raised beds but I can't do that every year. Does it go in the compost bin to help out there? I've just realised I can shove a fair bit of it on the borders but even so, I'll take answers! A 100L of compost will easily get lost on the raised beds you mentioned. It's fine on the compost or anywhere in the garden. |
#3
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Spent compost
Just note of caution with regard to reusing old compost - take care as you
empty the pots in case there are any vine weevils. Sift throught the compost carefully. They love to infest pots and eat plant roots. The trouble is with pots there are no predators to munch on them unlike open soil. Keep an eye open for the adult beetles too - kill them on sight. They are nastly little blighters and you definitely don't want to spread them around. If you find any in the pots - they are around 1cm long, white with a brown head and usually curled up into a letter C - any such compost put it into the dustbin. Do not attempt to reuse it or it will lead to a major contagion of the things - and no plants, no veg. -- David .... Email address on website http://www.avisoft.co.uk .... Blog at http://dlts-french-adventures.blogspot.com/ |
#4
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Spent compost
"David (in Normandy)" wrote in message ... Just note of caution with regard to reusing old compost - take care as you empty the pots in case there are any vine weevils. Sift throught the compost carefully. They love to infest pots and eat plant roots. The trouble is with pots there are no predators to munch on them unlike open soil. Keep an eye open for the adult beetles too - kill them on sight. They are nastly little blighters and you definitely don't want to spread them around. If you find any in the pots - they are around 1cm long, white with a brown head and usually curled up into a letter C - any such compost put it into the dustbin. Do not attempt to reuse it or it will lead to a major contagion of the things - and no plants, no veg. -- David ... Email address on website http://www.avisoft.co.uk ... Blog at http://dlts-french-adventures.blogspot.com/ Well it's war with me and the vine weevils. One or more has/have chewed the leaves of a very precious banana plant that has taken ages to germinate. Can you give me an approximate time of night when the little darlings appear? :-) |
#5
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Spent compost
"Rupert (W.Yorkshire)" wrote in message
Well it's war with me and the vine weevils. One or more has/have chewed the leaves of a very precious banana plant that has taken ages to germinate. Can you give me an approximate time of night when the little darlings appear? :-) You have my sympathy. They are horrible things and just multiply and decimate everything in pots.We used to keep lots of plants in pots back in England and usually the first sign of a problem was wilting leaves, which upon further inspection revealed a complete lack of roots. If you have one or more adult beetles roaming around eating leaves I'd guess they are just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. If I were you, and the plant is precious, I'd do an exploratory dig looking for the grubs in the soil and if necessary lift the plant, wash all the compost off the roots and re-pot in fresh compost, then to be on the safe side water it with some of that wine-weevil killer. I think the adult beetle lays its eggs on the leaves or the stem and the grubs hatch out and work their way down into the soil. At least there is a soil-drench / pesticide nowadays that you can buy, albeit expensive. Not so many years ago it was a case of just too bad! I once asked an expert for advice about what to do about vineweevils - his advice was simple but drastic - "Move House!". -- David .... Email address on website http://www.avisoft.co.uk .... Blog at http://dlts-french-adventures.blogspot.com/ |
#6
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Spent compost
"David (in Normandy)" wrote in message ... "Rupert (W.Yorkshire)" wrote in message Well it's war with me and the vine weevils. One or more has/have chewed the leaves of a very precious banana plant that has taken ages to germinate. Can you give me an approximate time of night when the little darlings appear? :-) snip At least there is a soil-drench / pesticide nowadays that you can buy, albeit expensive. Not so many years ago it was a case of just too bad! I once asked an expert for advice about what to do about vineweevils - his advice was simple but drastic - "Move House!". -- David Move House. The standard answer for Japanese knotweed,Giant Hogweed, Mares tail and now Weevil. At least a property with this lot ought to be very cheap:-) |
#7
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Spent compost
"Rupert (W.Yorkshire)" wrote in message ... "Linz" wrote in message ... I've only started gardening this year. I have some raised beds, 3m x 1m each, in which I'm trying 'square foot gardening' (hampered mainly by the slugs and local cats) and a lot of tubs and pots. What do I do with spent compost from the pots and tubs? I've been doing a form of crop rotation in some tubs - peas followed by carrots, for instance - but I've got a good 100l of compost that I grew potatoes in that I know I can't grow the next set of potatoes in, in case of disease. So what can I do with this compost? I'll use some of it to fill up the raised beds but I can't do that every year. Does it go in the compost bin to help out there? I've just realised I can shove a fair bit of it on the borders but even so, I'll take answers! A 100L of compost will easily get lost on the raised beds you mentioned. It's fine on the compost or anywhere in the garden. as long as the compost contains no nasties (as discussed by others) it can go back in to a compost pile or be mixed with fresh compost, it can be used on a lawn if you are planting new seed, it can go under a tree or hedge as a mulch, fill for a hole or gully, given to a neighbour who is building a raised garden, used on clay soils to add organic matter etc etc. Some of the nutrition may be gone from it but as a soil amendment it is still valuable. You are only bounded by your imagination. |
#8
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Spent compost
Rupert (W.Yorkshire) wrote:
"Linz" wrote in message ... I've only started gardening this year. I have some raised beds, 3m x 1m each, in which I'm trying 'square foot gardening' (hampered mainly by the slugs and local cats) and a lot of tubs and pots. What do I do with spent compost from the pots and tubs? I've been doing a form of crop rotation in some tubs - peas followed by carrots, for instance - but I've got a good 100l of compost that I grew potatoes in that I know I can't grow the next set of potatoes in, in case of disease. So what can I do with this compost? I'll use some of it to fill up the raised beds but I can't do that every year. Does it go in the compost bin to help out there? I've just realised I can shove a fair bit of it on the borders but even so, I'll take answers! A 100L of compost will easily get lost on the raised beds you mentioned. It's fine on the compost or anywhere in the garden. Thanks to Rupert, David and George for your help! I will look carefully for nasties then spread the compost around. |
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