Compost
Pure worm castings, sieved and ready to top-dress.
- Gentle enough for seedlings and houseplants
- Sieved fine, works into the surface of a pot
- Adds biology as well as nutrients
$22From 8 lb bag
Safety note
Compost is not sterile. Damp it down before handling to keep the dust out of the air, wear gloves, and wash your hands afterwards. Anyone with a compromised immune system or a respiratory condition should wear a mask while spreading it.
Compost
Blackearth Compost
Two-year windrow compost, screened fine enough to sow straight into.
Quantity
1 x $14$14
About this fertilizer
Green waste and leaf litter turned in open windrows for two full years, then screened to a quarter inch. It comes out dark, crumbly and faintly sweet smelling, with none of the ammonia sharpness of compost that has been rushed.
This is the one product here that improves the ground rather than feeding the plant. Its nutrient content is low and slow, but it holds water in light soil, opens up heavy soil, and gives soil life something to live on. Most problems people bring to us are solved by more of this and less of everything else.
Recommended uses
- Mulching beds and borders to hold moisture
- Improving the structure of clay or sandy ground
- Blending into potting mixes at up to a third by volume
- Top-dressing lawns in autumn after aeration
How to apply it
Application instructions
Follow these in order. The rates below are the ones we test to, and going over them will not make anything grow faster.
Mulch on the surface
Spread an even layer 1 to 2 inches deep over damp soil in spring or autumn. Keep it pulled back an inch from stems and trunks so bark does not sit wet against it. Do not dig it in; worms will take it down for you.
Improve a new bed
For ground being cultivated for the first time, spread 3 inches over the surface and fork it into the top 6 to 8 inches. One cubic foot covers about 6 square feet at that depth.
Blend into potting mix
Mix up to one part compost to two parts potting medium. Going beyond a third by volume holds too much water for most containers and can leave roots sitting wet.
