John Innes Seed Sowing Compost by Westland Garden Health 10l

Product Information

This normally gets put over the soil and it’s a precious commodity because most of us can’t make enough for the wholes garden. It needs to spread in autumn, round precious plants, and then it’s pulled down by earthworms. It’s good garden sense because leaves can’t be added to the compost heap the lignin in the leaves is hard to break down. The amount of lignin varies. Beech leaves take longer to rot than many others because they’re high in lignin. Turning your leaves three or four times a year speeds up the process and should produce friable leaf mould within a year.

A recently developed product that is suitable for use with ericaceous or ‘lime-hating’ plants. Peat-based or peat-free media with ‘added John Innes’ They add it to improve buffering, improve the trace element content of the formulation, or improve the weight of the medium. This is exactly what it says, it is manure which is mixed with straw and has been used for animal bedding. This cannot be used fresh so if you are in any doubt about how long it has been composting buy the bagged manure from the garden centre. It is best if it’s been left to rot for a couple of years, if you use it too fresh it could be too strong and burn the plant roots. Horse manure is the best as it contains the most nutrients but pig and sheep manure contain higher levels of nitrogen so are useful if used for leafy vegetables. Again use to add body and a few nutrients to your flower beds and vegetable garden; adding organic matter to the soil enables plant roots to penetrate more easily and so reach more nutrients and water, it also helps retain water on free-draining soils and heavy clay soils to drain more freely. It is available bagged from garden centres and directly from farms, just make sure you know where it has come from and that the animals haven’t been extensively dosed with chemicals.With so many different types of compost to choose from, sometimes it can be a little difficult to know which is the right compost to buy for your plants. The best way to think of it is by breaking it down into the life cycle of a plant. Seeds and seedlings Other John Innes composts can be found on the market, such as John Innes Seed Compost, potting composts containing fertilizer and soil mix, and John Innes Ericaceous Compost. Loam mix. The John Innes Foundation researched and devised the ideal recipe for various growing mixes according to the plant’s needs. The basic mix includes sterilised loam, peat (yes, peat again ….), coarse sand or grit, and fertilisers. You can easily recreate your own, peat free, loam mix. See here for advice. This can be mixed with compost or used on its own as a growing medium for cuttings. The sand must be coarse, not fine, because coarse sand holds the moisture. Fine sand can dry out in hours. It’s useful for preparing small seed trays: fill the tray with damp coarse sand and then plunge cuttings in, as and when. Cuttings root easily between May and the end of August. After that some bottom heat is needed. Adding warmth for general potting of most house plants and vegetable plants into medium size pots or boxes. Contains double

A trip to the garden centre for simple compost can result in being out-faced with a bewildering assortment of growing medium. There are specific composts for plants such as rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias, conifers, roses, houseplants and bedding plants, so if you are planting any of these then the choice is simple but for planting anything else then it is a minefield if you are a beginner gardener. Peat free compost is the replacement for peat and will often contain a mix of more fibrous material ingredients including: Loam is currently in short supply and the soil-based material used appears to be highly variable and not necessarily consistent with what is commonly understood to be a medium loam. There is no legally binding standards for John Innes potting media ingredients.Many people think that these kinds of soil and topsoil are the same thing, but the truth is that topsoil can be any other type of soil.

part peat or peat substitute. (Peat is often replaced with other materials and this is a more eco-friendly choice.) The seedling mix is used to sow seeds and to grow young plants and cuttings until they are ready to be planted out. [4] Both aerate the soil when mixed with compost and the ratio differs from 50/50 to 20/80 according to preference. They also insulate plants against the cold, raising the compost’s temperature and keeping it stable; and retain water, lessening the need for regular watering. They are often added to seed compost, to speed up germination, and they help cuttings to root more easily. Perlite Do use fresh compost each year to pot up your existing and new plants as this minimises risk of pests and diseases being carried over. It will also provide fresh nutrients to replace those that have been used up. Top soil is the upper layer of soil and contains all the nutrients and organic matter so is the most important part of the garden, if you have poor soil then your plants will struggle. The top soil in established beds will very rarely need replacing as you just enrich the existing soil with compost or well-rotted farmyard manure. You really only need topsoil if you are laying a new lawn and the soil is poor and stoney, constructing a lot of raised beds or creating new beds where there is only a thin layer of soil, this is often the case with new-build houses where the soil can often contain builders rubble. It is available in large bags from the garden centre or if you need to cover a large area then it is better to go to a contractor for a lorry load or ton bags.Read on to learn what exactly goes into each of these different soil-based growing media mixes. What Is It Made Of? Water retention – retains water for a more extended time, and the plants’ roots can easily access it. This compost mix ensures healthy root growth. We’re sure that your garden is already well maintained, and that this knowledge about loam based potting compost will only improve it. A. John Innes Composts are designed to be a life partner for plants. John Innes Seed Sowing Compost has a small amount of nutrients to encourage germination. John Innes No1 has a little more nutrients, perfect for transplanting seedlings. John Innes No2 is used for potting on young plants and John Innes No3, which has the most nutrients, is best used for final potting up of plants. John Innes Ericaceous is suitable for all acid loving (lime-hating) plants A loam-based compost can be good for a wide range of different plants. The right loam-based formulation can be used at all stages of plant growth.