In article , damduck-
says...

On Mon, 30 Mar 2015 13:50:42 +0100, Janet wrote:


Provided you don't mind the mess drop the bag on its end from about two
feet up and the shock will break the stuff up pretty well.

I decant the whole sack into an old dustbin (for storage) and use a
garden fork to break it up. When I take compost from the bin to a
potting tray I use a handfork if it needs to be broken up even finer;
and add grit to lighten it.

We fortunate enough last year to find a branch of Lidl selling off
some electric cement/plaster /paint stirrers for £5 like this one.
http://www.lidl-service.com/cps/rde/...619319&title=M

So far it has stirred and mixed compost soil etc fine in a dustbin,
plus some jobs doing what it was designed for.

At £5 if it only lasts a couple of seasons it will be a bargain, don't
know what the pre clearance price was .
If cheap enough when it comes around again it might be an idea for
some.

Wow, what a bargain boy toy....when's his birthday..

I'll watch out for one, thanks.

Janet.

G Harman wrote

Janet wrote:


Provided you don't mind the mess drop the bag on its end from about two
feet up and the shock will break the stuff up pretty well.

I decant the whole sack into an old dustbin (for storage) and use a
garden fork to break it up. When I take compost from the bin to a
potting tray I use a handfork if it needs to be broken up even finer;
and add grit to lighten it.

We fortunate enough last year to find a branch of Lidl selling off
some electric cement/plaster /paint stirrers for £5 like this one.
http://www.lidl-service.com/cps/rde/...619319&title=M

So far it has stirred and mixed compost soil etc fine in a dustbin,
plus some jobs doing what it was designed for.

At £5 if it only lasts a couple of seasons it will be a bargain, don't
know what the pre clearance price was .
If cheap enough when it comes around again it might be an idea for
some.


That is so cheap, the ones in Screwfix are £100. You can buy the "blade" as
a tool for an electric drill for about £5. but would that be powerful enough
for compost.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

On Mon, 30 Mar 2015 17:24:11 +0100, "Bob Hobden"
wrote:

G Harman wrote

Janet wrote:


Provided you don't mind the mess drop the bag on its end from about two
feet up and the shock will break the stuff up pretty well.

I decant the whole sack into an old dustbin (for storage) and use a
I use a handfork if it needs to be broken up even finer;
and add grit to lighten it.

We fortunate enough last year to find a branch of Lidl selling off
some electric cement/plaster /paint stirrers for £5


That is so cheap, the ones in Screwfix are £100. You can buy the "blade" as
a tool for an electric drill for about £5. but would that be powerful enough
for compost.
The stirrer is 1400 watts and has a speed control so you can run it at
a slowish speed. I have used an electric drill in the past with a
similar tool but it was too fast and the compost got thrown out of
the bin. The drill was about 600 watt and struggled a bit so I
stopped before the electric smoke escaped..

I was quite flabbergasted when I saw the asking price and checked they
were actually labelled correctly before reaching the till, sometimes
think I should have got two.
The branch was the Ferndown ,Dorset one and I think it is one of those
where they agglomerate the unsold items from other branches and have a
final clearance, possibly with some repackaging as some customers of
both Aldi and Lidl are disrespectable in the way they examine
prospective purchases.

G.Harman

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.

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.

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 use a cement mixer to mix my own leaf mould compost with soil. The compost
has very solid lumps in it which break up in the mixer well if I add a
couple of hefty rocks.

Mike

"David" wrote in message
...
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

We use an electric cement mixer as wellbut I didn't suggest that as I
assumed most people wouldn't have one!

--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
Holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cvs
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk


--
Windows 8.1 on PCSpecialist box

In article ,
"Charlie Pridham" wrote:

Can you tell me please Charlie what is "slow release" fertiliser?

I use Osmocote 18 month but as the bbc often say "other brands are
available!" basically they are all similar and are little pellets of clay
that contain the fertilizer it percolates out slowly over time (It is often
mistaken for snail eggs by new gardeners!)

Because peat free composts contain composted wood products or other
composted green waste they are often unpredictable as the composting process
is sometimes still on going which starves your plants of nutrients, you can
tell pretty quickly as the plants just sit there.

Predictability is what its all about and is the reason that the John Innes
recipe was widely adopted for soil based composts (its good but I find sets
like concrete on its own. would that some similar standard could be achieved
for peat free composts but at the moment it varies bag to bag.

Thanks very much Charlie -- very useful!

John