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John Innes compost

LynLyn DevonPosts: 21,138
edited April 2019 in The potting shed
I was sitting in the GH this afternoon with the tedious task of pricking out Lobelia, I’d contemplated the universe and beyond, just trying to take my mind off the task, then got to thinking about my bag of compost.
Levingtons Professional with added John Innes and enriched with recycled materials.
Now, I thought compost was recycled materials, what was it before it was enriched? An empty bag?
Now the John Innes bit, what turns a bag of compost into a John Innes, it looks like one, two or three handfuls of grit and sand in equal measures.  
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

Posts

  • Pete.8Pete.8 Billericay, EssexPosts: 9,861
    The John Innes recipes 
    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Derbyshire but with a Nottinghamshire postcode. Posts: 16,463
    Before it was peat based. Now you get the rubbish that people like me send to the council to get rid (Bindweed, marestail etc)
    John Innes institute worked out a formula for various loam based composts and also  what they called "base" fertilizers. Different strengths for different uses.
  • wild edgeswild edges The north west of south east WalesPosts: 8,860
    The RHS website gives the John Innes composition but I've found it to be very variable between brands. If you avoid the peat based ones they seem to be sand, soil and coconut fibre now.

    Tradition is just peer pressure from dead people
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