Peatfree compost.

Peat free compost is dreadful. It’s coarse and dries out too quickly . Having said that, I have been using Jack’s Magic original for a good few years with great result but this year it’s absolutely awful and I shalln’t buy it again.

I’ve not found a bought compost to be ‘as it used to be’ .
I agree, it dries out too quickly
and the best compost my brother-in-law makes himself (and kindly gives me some).

I'm pleased with Growmoor multipurpose compost from Bargain Buys shop. I planted three tubs with earth, compost, one with a expanding in water compost from a B M store. The multipurpose is best, then the expanding compost, the just earth not so good, but they are all nearly ready to flower for the summer.

It’s rubbish! Last year I added leaf mould which was an improvement but I did grow a few unintended saplings into the bargain. This year I’m trying only seed snails as an experiment. @granniequeenie. OMG you are so right! I’ve even seen the darned flies in the dack of multipurpose! It’s disgusting. Every plant in my house is festooned with yellow sticky things.

I agree the peat free compost is awful, full of unidentifiable bits!
I soak vermiculite and mix through the compost, picking out the woolly strings and plastic.. looking at you ' Jacks Magic' .....
The vermiculite seems to help retain moisture and reduces the top surface 'crack'. I get it in quantity from Amazon.

@Azalia99 I’m glad it’s not just me! I was at a small local garden centre this afternoon and asked the chap there about this very thing. He said though he agrees with the environmental concerns driving the changes, he hates the new stuff. He is disappointed that, the industry having had decades to develop peat free alternatives, the resulting products are so disappointing. Apparently he’s had so many customers expressing the same concerns as me, both for outdoor and indoor plants. Sadly no real solutions though!

The only way to use the peat free stuff is to add top soil to it , try and pick out the twigs and obviously non organic rubbish , sand helps too
I buy a small bag of top soil at the garden centre

Dh saw this stuff being manufactured. Most of it is from the green bins your local council collects which ought to be ok. However people throw all sorts of rubbish in as well as green waste such as plastic, silver paper etc which is why you get these things in some bags. It is impossible to sort apparently.

I’ve mixed last season’s used Sylagrow from my pots, and some well rotted manure together at the end of last summer, and I’ve used that this year. It’s going okay so far, but I think if I’d left it two years instead of one it would have been finer. I’ve also been toying with the idea of using topsoil in the mix, because a dry top and soggy roots seems to be a big issue with compost now, which is hopeless for young plants.

I too have been having problems since the peat free came in.
Some of it, even from reputable brands, is terrible, barely composted, full of lumps and sticks. I tried making a worm/slug/snail sized gash in the sack and leaving it to overwinter which helped to a certain extent with the consistency but germination is poor with seeds either rotting or popping their shoots through, looking round and deciding not to bother.

I have been experimenting with making my own mixture, too course mixed with overly fine (non water retaining) adding either vermiculite to help retain/release water and or pearlite to open up the clag and perhaps a few handfuls of our poor, sandy, gritty local "soil", depending on what I am trying to grow.

100% germination failure on 20 corn kernels first time round. A second planting with a different combination and I have spotted 25% germination so far (early days) but they look a bit scrawny. Even pansy seeds failed and they are usually no problem.

Last year I was at RHS Wisley and mentioned the problems I was having to one of the staff. The lady threw up her hands and said "If you find a solution, please let us know!"

Yes the peat free is definitely poorer than what we used to buy. We found Jacks Magic a bit better last year. We now add manure to the mix which seems to help too. We try to reuse old compost in the bottom of large planters to save costs but on the top we use new. This does seem to work somehow.

Just use topsoil - available in bags from garden centres.

I agree that peat free compost is more environmentally friendly, but we find it difficult to work with, not fine enough for growing seeds and not nourishing for plants. Until they find a more pleasant peat free compost I shall continue to buy compost with peat on line. On Gardeners Question Time the panel weren’t in favour of peat free. I think other professionals gardeners may use their own home made compost.

That should have read ‘professional gardeners’.