Reusing Bagged Compost

I'm very new to the 'grow your own' regime so am very green about most things.

Last year, I had a go at growing runner beans (which I love) and they did really well. I also planted some potatoes but the plants didn't flower so not sure if there are any potatoes. However, I loved being able to pick my own runner beans so I have decided to have another go this year.

As I live in a coastal region and in an area where the soil is quite sandy, I bought bags of organic compost to plant all my stuff in (herbs failed ) - can I use that same compost again this year (I bought planting bags to grow things in - they're about 3ft deep and 2ft across)?

Re: Reusing Bagged Compost

You should be able to use it again as long as your plants didnt die from a decease or fungal problem ... give it a good watering and some feed first before planting ...

Re: Reusing Bagged Compost

That's good to know - thank you. Carting those heavy bags of compost about is no joke! My eldest granddaughter is a gem and will often help with things like that but I don't like to keep asking her so it would be handy to be able to reuse it. Not sure why the potatoes didn't grow - I couldn't bring myself to put my hand in all that soil to see if any had grown

Do the potato plants have to flower for potatoes to grow?

Re: Reusing Bagged Compost

Hi Karen as Baggy says you can re use compost but need to add a good fertiliser because it will be depleted of nutrients.

Runner beans like plenty of moisture at the roots, I dig a trench and fill it with last years grass cutting , you can also use shredded newspaper anything which will hold moisture . I then replace the soil and add an organic fertiliser before planting the beans.

Re: Reusing Bagged Compost

No, potatoes don't have to flower for the tubers to grow but they will flower as do all plants.

Re: Reusing Bagged Compost

Many thanks Meg - I am thinking of putting things in the garden but not sure about the soil quality and I'm not overly happy at the thought of my dogs cocking their legs over my greens! - I shall also start keeping my grass cutting: do they need to be left though (they really smell when they start rotting). I may try the newspaper instead.

Re: Reusing Bagged Compost

They didn't flower Alan - not one flower! Not sure why, I followed all the instructions to the letter. I have to say I'm quite taken with popping out into the garden to get things and it's a reasonablish sized garden so I can afford a bit of space to give to growing. what do you do about weeds control? (my garden is bad for them)

Re: Reusing Bagged Compost

Karen many people use their grass cuttings to make proper compost. I use them for the bean. Because they are at the bottom of a trench it doesn't matter that they are not proper compost. When I dig the plot over in the autumn they will have rotted down nicely having done the job of keeping the beans moist.

Re: Reusing Bagged Compost

Oh I see - I thought I had to keep a big mound of grass going all gooey on the drive (is it obvious that i haven't got a clue )

I think I shall give it a try and keep the hose attached so I can squirt the dogs if they go anywhere near them - I'm quite looking forward to this! I will say that the beans I had last year tasted just like the ones my Dad used to grow (he'd shake his head at me for being so useless as he could grow anything and grew nearly all our fruit and veg - sadly, I didn't inherit his green-fingers).

Re: Reusing Bagged Compost

Weeds are a pain in all gardens.
We hoe around our plants, be they veg or flowers. Seedling weeds get turned up and left, larger weeds we pull out. The idea is to keep on top of them by hoeing regularly.