Council compost - any good?

[lovelygreenleaves]

My local authority is now selling compost made from collected garden waste, do you think it'll be any good from just garden waste alone? I could do with some while I'm waiting for my own.

[MKG]

Certainly better than no compost at all - so it rather depends on how much they want for it.

Mike

[lovelygreenleaves]

The stuff available from Weymouth council makes a great mulch, but kills off small plants and seedlings. Much of the garden waste collected will be grass cuttings that have been treated with lawn weedkillers, so the council compost can have significant quantities of herbicide. Additionally, some plants produce natural herbicides. Prunings from such plants can also end up in the council's garden waste skip.

Hmm yes I hadn't thought of that!

[Millymollymandy]

I think it rather depends on the compost and how it is made - some council's compost may be better than others. We bought some once but it was very, very twiggy.

I wouldn't use that kind of compost for seed or potting compost but for a general purpose dig into the veg patch stuff it should be OK. Not sure whether the high heat they attain making this kind of compost would kill off any chemicals that have been used on the plants though.

[TheGoodEarth]

Where about in the country are you lovelygreenleaves? My local Council give the stuff away for free and it is good enough for digging in to a veg garden

[Rosendula]

My local authority is now selling compost made from collected garden waste, do you think it'll be any good from just garden waste alone? I could do with some while I'm waiting for my own.

Hey, I was going to ask that! Our council is in the middle of overhauling its waste collection service and we're about to get a brown bin for garden and food waste. Well most of my garden waste goes in my own compost bin, along with peelings, etc. The only food waste I will be able to donate to the council will be plate scrapings. But, my thoughts are that if the council are making compost and selling it (I'm sure they'll charge), then paying them rather than buying a bag of compost from B&Q or somewhere will mean the money stays in our community and helps provide local jobs. That said, I've too been wondering about the quality. So I guess what I'm really trying to say is
PING

[TheGoodEarth]

Our council changed recently to accepting all cooked and uncooked food waste and I couldn't help but think that the quality of compost must vary greatly depending on which part of the country you live in.

Compost from an area where the diet is very high in saturated fats and processed foods must be very different from a part of the country that is say 80% asian where lots of vegetables, herbs and spices are used. They must have different levels of nutrients or am I just being daft?

[Millymollymandy]

Our local tip in France doesn't include that but it is made up with a lot of woody stuff like Leylandii, and branches. We dump branches there because with our wooded garden we just can't burn them. Ditto all my diseased plants go there too! But they don't make compost there - possibly taken off site and made elsewhere but I wouldn't know.