Not All Composts and Soil Mixes are the Same

Q. I am short about two or three inches of soil in my raised bed. I found some compost at one of the local stores. Is this compost any good to use for this?

A. I should mention something about compost in general. There are two components to compost; one is the manure that is used and the other is the source of carbon or bulking agent. This is usually wood that has been "ground up" in some way.

            The carbon or wood component is just as important to the quality of the compost as the source of manure. In your case cow manure CAN be an excellent source of nitrogen to get the source of carbon broken down.

            I do not have a problem with cow manure but it is NOT regulated. You get what you get. The quality rests squarely on the shoulders of the manufacturer and their social conscience. Generally speaking, manufacturers source out the least expensive manure they can get.

            The bulking agent or source of carbon is normally some sort of wood product. The best, usually, are forest byproducts from the lumber industry. The worst is construction lumber waste or waste from the construction industry. These products can... not always...contain fire retardants and other chemicals used or required by codes in the construction industry.

            You can drive yourself nuts trying to sort through this stuff and become very cynical. Stay with a company or brand that you feel tries to do the best they can in providing a good product. Trust the manufacturer that has a good reputation.

Of course we hope you will trust Viragrow and its product lines to give you the best product we can at reasonable prices.

Viragrow sells a manure free compost called BF Compost made from all natural forest products.

Please check out our bagged soil mixes http://www.viragrow.com/bagged-soils-mixes 

and our bagged composts http://www.viragrow.com/bagged-compost

Everyday prices range from $2,20 to $4.50 per bag.

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