Topic: DIY potting compost

[Harry]

A few years ago a certain Global Moderator removed a post of mine from here: someone had grumbled that their rabbit kept eating the newly planted herbs in the garden, so I suggested they should regard it as flavouring ahead of the pot. Apparently it was in bad taste, but surely that depends on the herbs?

LOL. How controversial can an allotments forum get?
 Do we get taken out and shot for mentioning weed killer or slug pellets or a dislike of some creature or other? What about cultivating the wrong variety of food, or dare I mention, having a shed door on your allotment shelter ( which is banned on my site). I already got a post removed on a certain Social Media site for mentioning Round-Up :)

Is this going to be one of the list of places where I get booted from? :)
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Probably, one day.

[Palustris]

I think it was the word 'black' which upset the moderators. The old BBC site had some very amusing fallings out over what could be considered to be trivial things. The children and hedgehogs saga even led to a Solicitor's letter being posted. So long ago and a more innocent time.
I also remember a posting of mine being removed because it infringed copyright. That was very odd as the piece of poetry which I posted was authored by................me. So  any copyright would have been mine.

[pumkinlover]

A few years ago a certain Global Moderator removed a post of mine from here: someone had grumbled that their rabbit kept eating the newly planted herbs in the garden, so I suggested they should regard it as flavouring ahead of the pot. Apparently it was in bad taste, but surely that depends on the herbs?

LOL Paulh

I guess this refers to me.  Point taken. It was one of those decisions that could have gone either way.  As a rabbit lover myself I try to make a joke when people talk about eating my pets.  But on this occasion, I was asked to remove this by one member who was concerned about how this would affect another member. Neither of these are regular posters any more but it does seem to have rankled with you so thanks for bringing the subject back up again.

[Paulh]

It didn't rankle, it still amuses me. I use it as an example of how difficult it is to moderate any forum!

[Palustris]

Back to the D.I.Y compost. I have just received a large amount of grass cuttings courtesy of my greenskeeper neighbour. Mixed them with leaves and vegetable waste. Given a decent damp warm summer it should turn into goof friable stuff for nest year. Will need sieving as ther are lots of beech nut shells mixed in with the leaves.

[Tee Gee]

Had a very satisfying morning making my own John innes no 3.I made up 160litres of it from proprietary used potting compost I saved.

To this I added lime to obtain a pH of around 6.5 to 7.0  and Perlite to improve the texture. ( and it feels boooootiful) then I added the required amount of John Innes base fertiliser as per the Ji recipe.

I did a rough reckoning up as to the cost of this exercise ( no labour charges) and it came out at around 5 p / litre.

 When I finished I made a few searches on line and the cheapest I saw was 45p/ litre although most were asking around 50-60 p litre. Meaning an 80 litre bag was costing £40-£50 a bag.

I reckon my 80 litre bag cost me around £5 and I will use it again next season  and the season after that.

Put another way I made 160  litres yesterday morning and 160 litres this morning for around ££15-20 This would have cost me well over £150 on line.

I remember the days when we grew to subsidise the household budget I don’t think that would apply to day. Makes you wonder if growing your own is worth while.

Takes me back to when I took up gardening when I asked an old fella “ what is the best green manure”? His answer…….pound notes.

Makes you think doesn’t it.

[Tee Gee]

Thought I would throw in a few pictures of my morning's work

[lezelle]

Hi All,
         I have been advised to use a mixture of leaf mould, soil and compost. It work for the person who told me so i'm considering using it. Any more advice like adding lime etc would be benifcial. thanks

[Tee Gee]

These two links might help you;

https://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Content/C/Compost/Compost.htm

https://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Content/L/Lime%20and%20its%20uses/Lime%20and%20its%20Uses.htm