Emptying the summer bedding plant troughs, I decided that I would keep
the soil to build up an area of my veg patch. I sieved the soil to
extract as much of the compacted roots as possible (which will go into
the Dalek compost bin) but was amazed to find how much stone was in the
compost. All little stons less tha about 1cm. Is this normal or is it
just a way of making the compost up to save money? Looking around the
garage I only found bags from Westland Multi-purpose compost with John
Innes so presume that was what was used.

Having plenty of stones in the garden, I object for payiong for more!

On Sun, 16 Oct 2022 19:43:40 +0100, "Polly@golly"
<pwllgloyw@gmail.com> wrote:

>Emptying the summer bedding plant troughs, I decided that I would keep
>the soil to build up an area of my veg patch. I sieved the soil to
>extract as much of the compacted roots as possible (which will go into
>the Dalek compost bin) but was amazed to find how much stone was in the
>compost. All little stons less tha about 1cm. Is this normal or is it
>just a way of making the compost up to save money? Looking around the
>garage I only found bags from Westland Multi-purpose compost with John
>Innes so presume that was what was used.
>
>Having plenty of stones in the garden, I object for payiong for more!

The stones improve drainage and keep the compost open and let the
plant roots breathe. Angular crushed stone is better than rounded
pebbles.

--
Chris

Gardening in West Cornwall, very mild, sheltered
from the West, but open to the North and East.

On 16/10/2022 19:43, Polly@golly wrote:
> Emptying the summer bedding plant troughs, I decided that I would keep
> the soil to build up an area of my veg patch. I sieved the soil to
> extract as much of the compacted roots as possible (which will go into
> the Dalek compost bin) but was amazed to find how much stone was in the
> compost. All little stons less tha about 1cm. Is this normal or is it
> just a way of making the compost up to save money? Looking around the
> garage I only found bags from Westland Multi-purpose compost with John
> Innes so presume that was what was used.

It is normal the stones in the form of grit and grit sand are there to
improve drainage so the plants roots can breathe. I add perlite and grit
to my compost when something is particularly sensitive to wet feet.

Most cacti grow best in a 50:50 mix of grit and JI No2 for example.
Likewise for many alpines - they can stand the cold but not the wet.
>
> Having plenty of stones in the garden, I object for payiong for more!

Use a wider sieve or simpler still just pull out the main roots of dead
plants and toss the rest onto the soil. Unless it obviously has root
meally bug(*) in which case you might want to hot compost it.

This shows up as white hazy patches on the inside of the pot and
critters eating the roots of your plant (maybe why it is dead).

These days they can survive outdoors in pation plants although they are
normally a pest of house plants and greenhouses. Very hard to eradicate
completely unless you are completely ruthless about segregation.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown