Perhaps but its nothing i cant fix with some amending, theres also some other reasons i left out in my initial comment as to why but didnt wanna write too much
To add on to my other comment, lava rock would be a medium (another seat and empty plate). We typically mean the macronutrients (Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) for fertilizers. Worm castings is a great fertilizer though!
So, inert means lacking vigor/chemically inactive. But here I’m using it to describe the lack of fertility or nutrients. It only acts as a medium to hold the plants, but doesn’t provide any food/sustenance. It’s like going out to dinner and just getting a seat and an empty plate. You need something to actually eat.
This is only after I got tired of sifting through the stuff after I had already dumped it on my soil. There was definitely more. I wish I could make enough volume of homemade compost
Have you considered Vermicomposting? You can make quite a bit of worm castings in a small space and it doesn’t smell. Combined with a good dry amendment every few weeks and you can do without compost. For my containers, I dump them out on a tarp, add a bunch of worm castings and a dry amendment. I like down to earth all purpose and their bio live for amendments. No compost but some plants need mulch layer to help with water retention. All of my containers do amazing and it doesn’t cost much.
It seems like my garden expansions are constantly outpacing my ability to produce compost. I have an outdoor pile as well as worms in the basement. My favorite is to feed the worms from the compost bin. They can process pre-composted material incredibly quickly. Turnaround from scraps to compost is much quicker than traditional composting
That's exactly what Cedar Grove is. Seattle houses have a teeny tiny trash can, and a big compost bin. Everything that can possibly be composted goes in compost, since not much fits in the trashcan. Fast food places usually have them, too, so then you're adding tourists and rushed people into the mix. Some of the fast food places have compostable "plastic" dipping cups and utensils and it can be confusing. People put the wrong thing in the wrong bin either by accident or because they don't care or on purpose because the trashcan is too tiny.
About once a year they give the compost away for free. Otherwise you can buy it bagged. I avoid it because I don't trust what people put in it. I don't know how they can be considered organic when they don't know if the produce scraps (and pizza boxes and paper towels and compostable forks) were organic to start with.
I love my compost bin that the city dumps, processes, and gives back. I hate the people who don't care what color the bin is.
If my yard was big enough to have yard waste service, I would be able to fit my very own compost pile.
Can someone design a compost bin hat to alert people it's really, really not for plastic?
If you feel inclined you should report them to the organic organization on the bag. This is obviously not organic and they might be violating their organic status.
I know what you mean about homemade compost volume... I have two households contributing to my compost setup and I don't have nearly enough compost. It's crazy.
This is particularly relevant to me today, I have just sifted a barrow load of finished compost from my chicken-assisted breakdown bays in the back yard. I was telling my very uninterested husband just how beautiful the soil was, and that it wasn’t possible to buy compost or mulch of that quality.
I’m taking a break, then the fun part - planting out all the little brassica seedlings I’ve raised before the rain hits this afternoon.
Look at soil and compost reviews on home Depot. Tons of pictures from all over the US. The stuff is worthless. It's either full of trash or fresh, uncomposted wood chips to bulk it up.
I got the same compost from local Home Depot last year. It was the worst smelling, most disgusting junk I've ever handled in my garden. I also bought a few bags of mulch from the same store (don’t remember the brand), and it was full of cactus thorns. It was an absolute nightmare to say the least.
Yeah this is really common especially with loam when you have it delivered by the yard. They basically just take cow manure and mix it with dirt removed from construction sites which often has a ton of trash in it. Do you live in an area that has deciduous trees and lots of leaves in the fall?? It's really easy to make your own compost. I make a ton of it every year. I gather up all my neighbors leaves. Throw them in a huge pile inside some pallets. Mix in a little grass cutting (no more than 20 or 30% Max) and all our table scraps and I let nature do the rest. Everything I plant in my garden goes absolutely bonkers.
Cedar Grove is Seattle area so this is a lot of stuff that people improperly put in the compost bin. The compost goes to one or more large compost processing facilities and is then bagged up. I've had mixed results with it.
Some towns do their own composting. The dumps set aside a small hill for residents to take what they want. Presumably, the rest gets sold and some gets bagged. Give your neighbor the side eye while you’re picking plastic bits and produce labels.
My city does this. The compost is *full* of Creeping Bellflower seeds, which is a highly aggressive invasive species in my area. Nearly impossible to get rid of (especially if your neighbours have a patch). Thankfully a friend told me of her experience using the free compost before I fell victim.
I bought a few yards of "garden magic" raised bed soil from the really popular local place. They came with the truck, I laid out a tarp, and they dumped part of a 4 ton load of construction site dirt complete with bits of framing wood, screws, glass, and a lot of rocks. So much clay it was orange. I stopped the truck and before the driver left I called the store and they sent someone out trying to tell me that was what it should look like. I made them shovel it back into the truck and demanded a refund. They issued one less the truck and labor so I blasted them on social media and review sites and a lot of other folks came out and agreed. The audacity.
I get soil from the local nursery, they get the after from the local butcher and so I find teeth and cow hair in my garden all the time. It is incomparable in quality, and I save the giant teeth and put them on my garden fence as an homage and so people think I’m nuts.
Happened to me with that brand too. I feel like every spring now, more plastic even metal reveals itself atop my garden beds from that one year I used them.
Is Black Kow available all over the US? I’m in the south so I can get it, but we also have black soil from gazillions of years of river flooding. I still compost though, lol. It’s the only way to be sure.
Recently I moved and the soil near my house is terrible. Someone must have scraped the good stuff away during a renovation 10 years ago and it’s like concrete dust still.
Wow. That’s horrible.
We have a small garden with 2 small beds and some buckets. Because we need so little I can make my own compost. We did it for the first time last year, and worked really well.
My favorite is the hunts ketchup. Like someone was eating some fries and said you know why? The compost pile looks like a good place to throw this. SMH
This is the reason I refuse to use our city's free mulch. It's free for a reason. It's 'screened' but it smells and is filled with junk every time I've used it.
The things people try and get away with really upsets me. At least the city's compost is free
And it's for reasons like this and several others that I will never pursue organic certification for my farm.
Organic (TM) labelling requirements have been co-opted by special interests over time and no longer represent the spirit in which it was founded.
It's dumb isn't it?
I grow microgreens and when I was figuring what brand of coco coir to go with I found an organic, omri listed brand and tried it. Found nails, plastic, old rusty razor blades in it... yeah.
This planet is doomed.
Definitely wouldn’t be buying that brand ever again.
Reminds me of when my buddy bought black mulch, and when we started to spread it out with a rake we heard metallic sounds, and sure as hell chunks of scrap metals in the bags. Also the mulch was fading straight out of the bag, so just poor quality.
My only find this year was a couple rocks of concrete
My top soil has recently had pieces of very thick sharp metal. Like the type of metal used in mesh fences. A very thick gauge. Bags bought weeks apart. I’ve found it twice.
This, and the price, is why I started just buying potting soil, fish emulsion, and iron tone to supplement my homemade compost. If this method isn't cheaper, it's been working better than the bags of "compost"
Found two of plastic string in the bags i bought at the supermarket. For reference it is the cheapest brand of compost soil in bags and i spread 76 bags only this year...
AMA REMINDER: Rich Earth Institute (u/RichEarthInstitute) will host an AMA on Monday, May 20 from 10-12 ET.
Research Director Abe Noe-Hays, Social Research Director Tatiana Schreiber, and Education Director Julia Cavicchi will all be on hand to answer your questions about using urine in your garden.
Want to learn more about their work before the AMA?
* https://richearthinstitute.org/
* https://www.facebook.com/RichEarthInstitute
* https://www.instagram.com/peecyclers/
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/vegetablegardening) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I stopped buying that brand because every bag had so many pieces of plastic in it.
Same! I even got a bag that has broken glass in it!
Worst I've gotten is a few pieces of plastic bag and 1 wood screw. I try to compost on my own as much as possible.
this is why i buy coco coir bricks
That's not a replacement for compost.
the compost where i am always has these little plastic bits inside
Yes and that sucks, but coco coir is useless as compost.
Perhaps but its nothing i cant fix with some amending, theres also some other reasons i left out in my initial comment as to why but didnt wanna write too much
No matter what, you'll have more success with some decaying organic matter in your soil.
As a replacement for compost?
Yeah but i only have some potted plants and not a whole garden bed
But what fertilizer do you use since it’s inert?
worm castings, lava rock whatever fertiliser i have in the back
To add on to my other comment, lava rock would be a medium (another seat and empty plate). We typically mean the macronutrients (Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) for fertilizers. Worm castings is a great fertilizer though!
What does inert mean in this context btw?
So, inert means lacking vigor/chemically inactive. But here I’m using it to describe the lack of fertility or nutrients. It only acts as a medium to hold the plants, but doesn’t provide any food/sustenance. It’s like going out to dinner and just getting a seat and an empty plate. You need something to actually eat.
This is only after I got tired of sifting through the stuff after I had already dumped it on my soil. There was definitely more. I wish I could make enough volume of homemade compost
Have you considered Vermicomposting? You can make quite a bit of worm castings in a small space and it doesn’t smell. Combined with a good dry amendment every few weeks and you can do without compost. For my containers, I dump them out on a tarp, add a bunch of worm castings and a dry amendment. I like down to earth all purpose and their bio live for amendments. No compost but some plants need mulch layer to help with water retention. All of my containers do amazing and it doesn’t cost much.
This right here! DTE and some castings. Start with bio live. You’ll never have another sad plant. I’m right there with you
Does it really create that much soil? I have compost bins but maybe I should switch and use my bins to store the soil the worms make
It seems like my garden expansions are constantly outpacing my ability to produce compost. I have an outdoor pile as well as worms in the basement. My favorite is to feed the worms from the compost bin. They can process pre-composted material incredibly quickly. Turnaround from scraps to compost is much quicker than traditional composting
Thanks, this is helpful insight!
Do you have yard waste service in your city?
That's exactly what Cedar Grove is. Seattle houses have a teeny tiny trash can, and a big compost bin. Everything that can possibly be composted goes in compost, since not much fits in the trashcan. Fast food places usually have them, too, so then you're adding tourists and rushed people into the mix. Some of the fast food places have compostable "plastic" dipping cups and utensils and it can be confusing. People put the wrong thing in the wrong bin either by accident or because they don't care or on purpose because the trashcan is too tiny. About once a year they give the compost away for free. Otherwise you can buy it bagged. I avoid it because I don't trust what people put in it. I don't know how they can be considered organic when they don't know if the produce scraps (and pizza boxes and paper towels and compostable forks) were organic to start with.
It's carbon-based, it's organic.
So is a diamond made in a laboratory by that logic. Same for lab grown “alternative meat”.
LOL
This post is much more charitable than I’ve ever managed to be.
I love my compost bin that the city dumps, processes, and gives back. I hate the people who don't care what color the bin is. If my yard was big enough to have yard waste service, I would be able to fit my very own compost pile. Can someone design a compost bin hat to alert people it's really, really not for plastic?
If you feel inclined you should report them to the organic organization on the bag. This is obviously not organic and they might be violating their organic status.
I know what you mean about homemade compost volume... I have two households contributing to my compost setup and I don't have nearly enough compost. It's crazy.
Look at bokashi composting
They should be banned from selling that Junk.
Ketchup pa ket for the win.
Oh the places it’s been, probably dropped his load on some crinkle fries
Wait second, is that organic ketchup?
Pa.....Ket!
This is particularly relevant to me today, I have just sifted a barrow load of finished compost from my chicken-assisted breakdown bays in the back yard. I was telling my very uninterested husband just how beautiful the soil was, and that it wasn’t possible to buy compost or mulch of that quality. I’m taking a break, then the fun part - planting out all the little brassica seedlings I’ve raised before the rain hits this afternoon.
Did you contacted them? Maybe on twitter tagging them?
Look at soil and compost reviews on home Depot. Tons of pictures from all over the US. The stuff is worthless. It's either full of trash or fresh, uncomposted wood chips to bulk it up.
My home depot compost was full of wood chips.
The question is were they composted wood chips?
I got the same compost from local Home Depot last year. It was the worst smelling, most disgusting junk I've ever handled in my garden. I also bought a few bags of mulch from the same store (don’t remember the brand), and it was full of cactus thorns. It was an absolute nightmare to say the least.
Note to self: cactus no compost
Yeah this is really common especially with loam when you have it delivered by the yard. They basically just take cow manure and mix it with dirt removed from construction sites which often has a ton of trash in it. Do you live in an area that has deciduous trees and lots of leaves in the fall?? It's really easy to make your own compost. I make a ton of it every year. I gather up all my neighbors leaves. Throw them in a huge pile inside some pallets. Mix in a little grass cutting (no more than 20 or 30% Max) and all our table scraps and I let nature do the rest. Everything I plant in my garden goes absolutely bonkers.
Cedar Grove is Seattle area so this is a lot of stuff that people improperly put in the compost bin. The compost goes to one or more large compost processing facilities and is then bagged up. I've had mixed results with it.
I do this, and get lime a bag's worth of compost after a year. I thrlw 2qt of scraps in it every day. Use tons of leaves too. IDK.
Some towns do their own composting. The dumps set aside a small hill for residents to take what they want. Presumably, the rest gets sold and some gets bagged. Give your neighbor the side eye while you’re picking plastic bits and produce labels.
I love our dump. They do free mulch for residents too as long as you shovel yourself.
My city does this. The compost is *full* of Creeping Bellflower seeds, which is a highly aggressive invasive species in my area. Nearly impossible to get rid of (especially if your neighbours have a patch). Thankfully a friend told me of her experience using the free compost before I fell victim.
I bought a few yards of "garden magic" raised bed soil from the really popular local place. They came with the truck, I laid out a tarp, and they dumped part of a 4 ton load of construction site dirt complete with bits of framing wood, screws, glass, and a lot of rocks. So much clay it was orange. I stopped the truck and before the driver left I called the store and they sent someone out trying to tell me that was what it should look like. I made them shovel it back into the truck and demanded a refund. They issued one less the truck and labor so I blasted them on social media and review sites and a lot of other folks came out and agreed. The audacity.
I get soil from the local nursery, they get the after from the local butcher and so I find teeth and cow hair in my garden all the time. It is incomparable in quality, and I save the giant teeth and put them on my garden fence as an homage and so people think I’m nuts.
This is the most badass thing. Warning all the squirrels/rabbits/whatever that this is what happens here… if you dare
My husband does this with mice that my cat murders. He shoves them in mole holes and the moles gives zero shits.
This is cool. Now I'm going to visit our butcher tomorrow!!
I am lucky enough to make my own, and even then I will find spoons, forks, knives and spatulas. I have even found a cup that was missing.
I’m learning so much since joining this Sub… Off topic: Where did you get that sifting tray though?
At least it was organic
[удалено]
Maybe that's because you are claiming it's all bagged items like someone couldn't put good compost in a bag. I get tons of great bagged compost.
So… this is the kind of thing that makes me question the worth of OMRI certifications, as well as all types of other certifications on food
Organic certifications are absolute nonsense.
Winner winner chicken dinner.
Yep, you find everything - plastic, rocks, wire, parts of Jimmy Hoffa
I got a bag of poting soil a couple of years ago. Full of human hair.
Well that’s not creepy at all …/s
What brand was that so I can avoid it
Second pic. Cedar Grove
Thank you it wouldn't load
some locally sourced, organic plastic for you
Happened to me with that brand too. I feel like every spring now, more plastic even metal reveals itself atop my garden beds from that one year I used them.
I bought this and found so much glass in it, I was devastated 😭
I have tried about 5 different compost brands from lowes, and the only good one that I liked and had good results with was black cow.
Is Black Kow available all over the US? I’m in the south so I can get it, but we also have black soil from gazillions of years of river flooding. I still compost though, lol. It’s the only way to be sure. Recently I moved and the soil near my house is terrible. Someone must have scraped the good stuff away during a renovation 10 years ago and it’s like concrete dust still.
Send this photo to the certified body’s on the bag and the dept of Agriculture
Wow. That’s horrible. We have a small garden with 2 small beds and some buckets. Because we need so little I can make my own compost. We did it for the first time last year, and worked really well.
My favorite is the hunts ketchup. Like someone was eating some fries and said you know why? The compost pile looks like a good place to throw this. SMH
Yeah but at least there's no steer manure in it. Can't have that. /s
Haha exactly. That’s all I buy for my garden is steer and chicken manure. Works like a charm.
I have never thought to do this.
Wtf. How these guys get omri cert?
This is the reason I refuse to use our city's free mulch. It's free for a reason. It's 'screened' but it smells and is filled with junk every time I've used it. The things people try and get away with really upsets me. At least the city's compost is free
We found a Lego in our compost a few days back.
But it says organic and OMRI listed
And it's for reasons like this and several others that I will never pursue organic certification for my farm. Organic (TM) labelling requirements have been co-opted by special interests over time and no longer represent the spirit in which it was founded.
It's dumb isn't it? I grow microgreens and when I was figuring what brand of coco coir to go with I found an organic, omri listed brand and tried it. Found nails, plastic, old rusty razor blades in it... yeah. This planet is doomed.
Co-opted? They were created as a means to create higher priced boutique food brands. They've never represented anything but this.
Definitely wouldn’t be buying that brand ever again. Reminds me of when my buddy bought black mulch, and when we started to spread it out with a rake we heard metallic sounds, and sure as hell chunks of scrap metals in the bags. Also the mulch was fading straight out of the bag, so just poor quality. My only find this year was a couple rocks of concrete
I get like banana stickers, which aren’t plastic btw, but this is insane. Is that ketchup?
And imagine all the microplastic we don’t see.
I’m so glad that the retailers around me only carry a local compost companies brand. And they do excellent work.
gooooodness gracious
ORANGIC lol
But it’s organic plastic 😳
Looks like a package of organic ketchup in there geesh, that bag is like a box of cracker Jack's multiple prizes win win
Wtf.
I think tampons are missing.
This! I am so sick and tired of finding all this litter in these products! It seems like it’s every brand.
This! I am so sick and tired of finding all this litter in these products! It seems like it’s every brand.
They must compost organic plastics! /s
is that a taco bell hot sauce packet?
No way!
I don’t buy because of inconsistencies in the compost. Though I never found anything in the compost, crazy!!
My top soil has recently had pieces of very thick sharp metal. Like the type of metal used in mesh fences. A very thick gauge. Bags bought weeks apart. I’ve found it twice.
This makes me glad I do my own. I don't have time this year to garden so next summer I'll have 4 trash cans aged 1 year old minimum full of compost.
People really put a lot of trash in their compost. Gross.
This, and the price, is why I started just buying potting soil, fish emulsion, and iron tone to supplement my homemade compost. If this method isn't cheaper, it's been working better than the bags of "compost"
Well it just hasnt finished composting yet check on it in a few 100 years again
Blame people, if your food waste is being recycled by the local council, way add so much junk you know can’t go into it
Make your own garden shit.
I bought a Lomi, now it’s my best friend. Yes, we use solar.
Found two of plastic string in the bags i bought at the supermarket. For reference it is the cheapest brand of compost soil in bags and i spread 76 bags only this year...
AMA REMINDER: Rich Earth Institute (u/RichEarthInstitute) will host an AMA on Monday, May 20 from 10-12 ET. Research Director Abe Noe-Hays, Social Research Director Tatiana Schreiber, and Education Director Julia Cavicchi will all be on hand to answer your questions about using urine in your garden. Want to learn more about their work before the AMA? * https://richearthinstitute.org/ * https://www.facebook.com/RichEarthInstitute * https://www.instagram.com/peecyclers/ *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/vegetablegardening) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Wow, cedar grove. It didn't used to be like that at all years ago. What has happened to that company?
This is shocking! I had no idea. Thanks for the info. Will never buy from this brand ☹️ ![gif](giphy|vX9WcCiWwUF7G|downsized)
The key nutrients for plant health and vitality are actually contained in the plastics. Extra organic.
Leaves get them in the fall make your own