buying compost recomendations

I know I know.... make my own, but thats not going to help me get started this season. When it comes to buying compost I know Mel says to use different types. Does anyone have recomendtaions on which ones to buy from your local garden center or box stores?

Hi brubakes! There was quite a discussion about sources of compost in this thread, if you'd like to check it out.

https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t7018-5-types-of-compost

Happy Hunting!

Thanks. I just want to make sure I get the right stuff. One of our local supermarkets has started selling their own compost using left over materials from their stores. I wonder how good it actually is?

http://www.buehlers.com/cnt/documents/BuehlersCompostflyer.pdf

That actually sounds like a good source. One of the recommendations on making your own compost it to see if the local supermarket will let you have its produce leavings. I say so for it.

Kay

walshevak wrote:That actually sounds like a good source. One of the recommendations on making your own compost it to see if the local supermarket will let you have its produce leavings. I say so for it.

Kay

They are a great company too. I used to work for them as a teenager. Very envolved with the community too. Now to figure out how much I will need. Don't a volume amount on their flyer, just the weight. I'll check it out today though.

Year before last I got a wonderful supply of produce from our local supermarket, I collected twice a week.

Last year I asked them again, and they said they were not allowed to under the Health Act, and they had to dispose of it but not to the public.

I had a sneaking suspicion that they got tired of putting the stuff aside for me so came up with that rule, or else too many people were asking for their leftovers.
Gardening, especially veggie gardening has really exploded in our town since then. When I belonged to the local Gardening Club all they could talk about were daylilies and roses etc., absolutley no one was interested in producing a nice tasty tomato or carrot.

I have seen 1 compost bag that listed both weight and cu ft. It was a 40lb, .75cu ft bag.




Kay

Kelejan wrote:Year before last I got a wonderful supply of produce from our local supermarket, I collected twice a week.

Last year I asked them again, and they said they were not allowed to under the Health Act, and they had to dispose of it but not to the public.

I had a sneaking suspicion that they got tired of putting the stuff aside for me so came up with that rule, or else too many people were asking for their leftovers.
Gardening, especially veggie gardening has really exploded in our town since then. When I belonged to the local Gardening Club all they could talk about were daylilies and roses etc., absolutley no one was interested in producing a nice tasty tomato or carrot.

We ran into that same issue here with a company when we asked for day old baked goods for a homeless shelter. They were afraid homeless people would sue them if they got sick from day old baked goods. Yeah right! These people eat out of dumpsters and spend almost every penny they get on drugs and booze. Like they are going to sue you for ANYTHING.

Very often you have better luck with smaller corner stores or small restaurants.

Gwynn

I went ahead and bough 4 40lb bags of the compost I posted from the local retailer. I also picked up two 25lb bags of Moo-Nure, two bags (1 cu ft each) of mushroom compost, and two 40lb bags of a more generic manure/humus compost (yellow bag) from Home Depot as well. This won't be enough as I need 16 cu ft to finish my Mel's Mix, but I hope its a good start.

Be carful of manure/humus it will throw off the MM 1/3,1/3,1/3 ratio a bit humus = peat in the mix. Can you return that one? If not just aad a little extra straight compost and vermiculite. It won't be perfect but I doubt no matter how hard we try few here have a perfect 3 part mix. I know mine's not for one a little too much vermiculite in my case . As time goes on I will add more compost and peat as I replant squares.

shannon1 wrote:Be carful of manure/humus it will throw off the MM 1/3,1/3,1/3 ratio a bit humus = peat in the mix. Can you return that one? If not just aad a little extra straight compost and vermiculite. It won't be perfect but I doubt no matter how hard we try few here have a perfect 3 part mix. I know mine's not for one a little too much vermiculite in my case . As time goes on I will add more compost and peat as I replant squares.

Thanks for the tip. I did not relize that. It was only like a $1.75 or something cheap so I can always find a use for it elsewhere other then my SFG.

I need to read up and study on the types of compost so I know what I need to buy to reach my 16 cu ft requirement.

shannon1 wrote:Be carful of manure/humus it will throw off the MM 1/3,1/3,1/3 ratio a bit humus = peat in the mix. Can you return that one? If not just aad a little extra straight compost and vermiculite. It won't be perfect but I doubt no matter how hard we try few here have a perfect 3 part mix. I know mine's not for one a little too much vermiculite in my case . As time goes on I will add more compost and peat as I replant squares.

Mine's a bit shy of the peat. Needed 20 cu ft and only fluffed up to 19.2cuft, not worth another bale.

Kay

I thought finding Vermiculite was going to be the difficult part.....

walshevak wrote:I have seen 1 compost bag that listed both weight and cu ft. It was a 40lb, .75cu ft bag.

Thanks. I hate that there is no constant marking thoughout the industry. It would make things so much easier if there was a volume and weight marking on each product.

Not an exact science, but based on that, I estimated 50lbs as 1 cuft, 40lbs as .75 cuft and 20lbs as .35cuft. and bought accordingly. When I was in doubt about being just a little short I added another 20lb bag of Black Hen. I would rather be slightly over on compost as that is the actual nutrients. So far the mix is going gang busters.


Kay

Thanks for the tip Kay. I'm going to hit some of the local garden centers tonight and tomorrow to see if I can find a good blended compost with all the goodies already there.

I found some shrimp compost today. They only had three small bags though. Gonna keep looking.

walshevak wrote:I have seen 1 compost bag that listed both weight and cu ft. It was a 40lb, .75cu ft bag.

Kay

OH NO! I never knew that 50 lbs = 1 cu. ft. so I'm hijacking this thread pleading for help!

When buying compost (I did find 5 types) last year for my new sfg, we had no clue as to how many square feet were in 1 bag. Our bags were only labeled with 40 or 50 lbs. I hadn't found this forum yet and never thought to look on line for any answers. We did our best at guessing the amount of compost in our mix, but I'm thinking we under-composted by far! I think it ended up being only 1 to 1 1/2 40 or 50 lb bags of compost in each 12 x 4 ft. bed. I just looked at the mm calculator and there should've been closer to 5 cu.ft.

Last year's garden went ok - Tomatoes thrived like crazy, lettuces were good, but melons & cukes never amounted to much past 4 inch tall plants. Beans were horribly yellow and we thought they were getting burned from too much compost. Now I'm sure it's because there is not enough!

This spring I've seen my cukes yellowing, tomatoes look ok, but not thriving yet (thought it was due to cool temps) and my new spinach is definitely yellow! Here I've been so proud of my babies this year (all from seed) and I've been starving them!!! In the last few days, my local greenhouse helped me pick out some organic food to apply in the water (a fish / seaweed liquid). But now I realize I need to up my compost in the mm.

I'm assuming it's never too late to do this? Should I just buy several more bags (I don't have my own compost yet) and mix it in around the plants?

Is there a danger of adding too much compost to mm??

jbh29 wrote:

walshevak wrote:I have seen 1 compost bag that listed both weight and cu ft. It was a 40lb, .75cu ft bag.

Kay

OH NO! I never knew that 50 lbs = 1 cu. ft. so I'm hijacking this thread pleading for help!
Is there a danger of adding too much compost to mm??

Since Mel advises folks in countries that cannot obtain vermiculite and peat to plant in pure compost, I think the answer is NO.

Kay

BTW, my calculation on the cu ft of certain weight bags is only a SWAG, not an exact science. But my mix based on those calculations is doing very well.