Bags of problems as garden centres offer old compost

Bags of old compost are still being sold in garden centres and DIY stores with no indication of the date of production on the packaging, according to a report in the latest edition of Which? Gardening, the Consumers’ Association magazine.?

The report follows up its findings last June that old stock was on sale, which manufacturers said was down to the previous year’s poor summer. Yet the problem is still occurring, with researchers having found old stock of B&Q, Miracle-Gro, J Arthur Bower’s and Westland compost being sold again.Compost does not normally have a sell-by or use-by date on it, so consumers may have trouble distinguishing old stock from new.

But just how effective is old compost? Which? Gardening claims that the nutrients in compost can degrade over time, so using a compost that is more than a year or two old could prevent plants from thriving.

Guy Barter, chief horticultural adviser with the RHS, says organic potting compost deteriorates with time. “Any organic fertilisers incorporated in the compost will break down over time and the soluble nutrients will become too salty and strong, which could damage the roots of young plants.

“Potting composts have been formulated to have lots of air in them because roots need to breathe, just like humans. As the compost ages, the air space declines and roots find it difficult to grow because of lack of air in the compost.” He says non-organic composts are less likely to be affected by age because the nutrients will almost certainly be in the form of chemicals, which are not broken down so quickly.

Which? Gardening wants manufacturers to make it easier for consumers to see when the compost they buy was made ? for example, by printing a production date on the packaging. When it suggested this to the industry body, Growing Media Association, it said: “GMA members believe they manage stock well. If consumers are dissatisfied with the quality of their compost, they should take it up with the retailer.”

David Coop, head of technical development for Westland Horticulture, says: “Ideally, we would advise gardeners to use compost within the season of purchase.

“However, we are confident that Westland compost would be stable and consistent the following year if stored correctly in a cool, dry place, away from direct sunshine. This is because we use ingredients such as peat and our patented West+ wood fibre in our composts, which are stable, consistent and reliable products, which don’t break down quickly.”

A spokesman for Sinclair Horticulture, which manufactures J Arthur Bower’s compost, says: “Sinclair Horticulture’s retail composts are formulated to have a long shelf life. Any deterioration is gradual and the product remains efficacious for at least two years as long as it is stored well (i.e. fully wrapped).

“We encourage garden centres to rotate their stock, but we have no control over this. Should the consumer buy discounted older compost, we would advise them to keep an eye on their plants and be prepared to start their fertiliser regime slightly earlier if their plants show any signs of nutrient deficiency.”

However, Barter notes that it would be difficult and costly for gardeners to prove that the compost they used had caused the poor performance of plants. They would probably need to employ a specialist company to analyse the compost.

“When you see compost for sale you assume it will do what it says on the bag. But if it’s been in a retail outlet for a long time, it may have deteriorated.” So, what should we be looking for when buying what we deem to be fresh compost?

“Go to outlets which have a high turnover where there doesn’t appear to be old stock,” Barter advises. “If the bags are looking stained or weather-worn, perhaps you should think about shopping elsewhere.”

When you open the bag, the contents should feel fluffy and fibrous, not wet and heavy. Compost may seem hard because it’s been stacked on a pallet, but it should fluff up pretty easily.

However, it is possible to use old compost as an effective soil improver when winter digging or just to use as a mulch to conserve moisture and suppress weeds, says Barter, so you could bag a bargain if you see any old stock in the sale.

And if anyone has a partially-used bag of compost left over from a previous year, mix it 50:50 with fresh compost and use it to raise young bedding plants or young vegetables, he advises.

The full Consumers’ Association report is in the June issue of Which? Gardening. Sign up to Which? for a one-month trial for ?1 and get access to all its product reviews, test scores and Best Buy or Don’t Buy ratings. Visit www.which.co.uk/signup for more information

Best of the Bunch

This shrub must be among the most fragrant in early summer, producing a fabulous orange blossom scent which is carried far and wide, so you can enjoy it even if you are sitting quite far away on a warm summer’s evening. The small flowers are white, with a yellow centre, appearing in profusion in June and July. Plants grow to around 2m, although there are some dwarf and taller varieties available. They grow in virtually any soil, but prefer a sunny spot and need to be pruned after flower by cutting back flowered stems to a healthy bud. Popular taller varieties include P. ‘Virginal’, which bears large clusters of double flowers, while the smaller types include P. microphyllus, which is ideal for the back of the rockery.

Good Enough to Eat

If the weather’s been cold and not many fruits have set on your courgette plants, it’s time to give them a helping hand by fertilising the flowers. You can do this by locating a male flower, which does not have a swelling behind it, removing the petals and pushing it into a female flower, which has swelling behind it. The pollen comes in huge quantities, so one flower will pollinate many fruit.

What to do this Week

Continue to earth up potatoes planted during March and April.

Remove rhododendron flowers which have passed over, so that energy is not wasted in the production of seed.

Sow seeds of fast-maturing annuals directly into the ground and thin any seedlings sown earlier in the year.

Sow spring-flowering biennials such as forget-me-nots, sweet williams and wallflowers.

Complete summer plantings in containers and water regularly.

Pinch out the tips of dahlias to promote bushy plants.

Tie in new growth of clematis.

Protect soft fruit from birds by throwing nets over the bushes or by building a fruit cage.

Plant out hardened-off tender and half-hardy fuchsias into beds, borders and containers.

Take cuttings of carnations, fuchsias, herbs and many shrubs and perennials to root in the greenhouse.

Plant out runner beans which have been started off in the greenhouse.

Manor house opens to raise vital charity cash

Cothay Manor and Gardens in Somerset are holding a charity garden plant and food fair this weekend in aid of Children’s Hospice South West.

On Saturday, there will be 50 stalls dotted around the romantic gardens, which were featured in the Daily Telegraph’s 20 Best Gardens in Britain guide. The stunning 12-acre grounds boast a number of garden rooms set off by a 200-yard yew walk.

Charlie Campbell, daughter of owners Alastair and Mary-Anne Robb, had her own reason to back the charity, which supports families of sick children. Her nine-year-old daughter Flora suffers from a potentially life threatening condition.

She said: “The idea of any parent suffering the loss of a child at any age is hard to imagine, something that we don’t as individuals want to imagine as it simply couldn’t happen to us.

“From personal experience, having a child with difficult to control epilepsy and special needs, as a mother I fear every day and every night for her, but still I can’t possibly imagine the idea of having a terminally ill child.

“To have the support that the Children’s Hospice South West offers is so incredibly important to parents with terminally ill children.”

The three small hospices run by the charity deliver a range of services, including short breaks, specialist play, palliative care and bereavement support.

This Saturday the doors of Cothay, which dates back to around 1480 and is considered by many to be the most perfect of small, classic, medieval buildings in England, will be thrown open to raise money for the charity.

The ?5 entrance fee (?2.50 for children) for Saturday’s event at Cothay covers entry into the grounds and visitors can then choose if they want to purchase tickets for tours of the manor house, which featured in the Channel 4 television series Country House Rescue in 2008. A hospice spokesman said: “We are dedicated to making the most of short and precious lives, providing the best possible hospice care for life-limited children and their families from the South West.”

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