Council Compost?

[VolesAteMyPeas]

Well, neither my fears nor hopes shall ever come to pass. By the time I got there they'd run out. Honestly, they'd only brought about half a skip's worth for the whole of the county! But thank you to everyone here who gave advice. I'll remember it for next time!

[lottieguy]

Hi Ya, I did a master compost course and part of that was a visit to a green waste site. They have to make sure the compost is kept at a constant tempreture of 63 degrees C for a minimum of 4 days, which is a legal requirement,and have a computor print out to prove it. They keep the temperature up by pushing air though. The one thing that really stood out was the amount of times air was metioned in the process. There was also a clean and dirty side to the site and never did they cross. The lorries delivering the stuff had their wheels washed to avoid contanimation. They used to give it away but have been stopped by some law and sell it to local farmers as a soil conditioner for £2.5 a ton. They don't sell it to the public any more. The bloke giving us he tour did say that it contained very little in the way of nutrients and was a soil conditioner only. He also said that any diseased material would survive the process. I was impressed with the set up and if you get chance pay a visit. The stuff I saw at the end was very nice but other stuff I have seen them give away, a few years ago now, was awful and full of sticks etc. I would use it to condition my soil if I could get it. It may be alright if you used it bulk out a well known make of compost as they tend to add plant nutrients. The best I have found is one called "Jacks magic" bit more costly but good and you can get bargains if you look around. Happy gardening

[arpoet]

I have been using Jacks Magic for a couple of years now and its quite good. £4 a 60L bag at our local GC.