My compost woes

MANY of us who like to raise our own plants have been suffering compost woes, whether we’re trying to go peat-free or not! This year many of my plants failed to thrive: they developed chlorotic (or yellowing foliage) and withered away. At first, I put this down to the cool temperatures of spring, but they failed to recover once the nights and days warmed up. I have to deduce that the compost is probably to blame. Much of the compost I’ve used this year is not encouraging growth as it should.

- Val Bourne

The final indignity came when one batch of very smelly compost (at £6.95 a bag) killed my plants overnight. I potted up ten dahlias, some home-grown Tithonia rotundifolia plugs and pricked out some strong Verbena bonariensis seedlings. They looked well when I’d finished, but seemed to be suffering later that day when I went to close the

Val explains how it’s not easy being green greenhouse. Sadly, they were all dead by the following morning, so I contacted the store’s customer service department. Others had already complained, so they knew about the problem. They refunded me for the compost and compensated me for my plants, so I’m not naming and shaming them, but that compost is still being sold and will almost certainly kill someone else’s plants.