"Mongrel" compost

rough beginnings in the green waste depot at Mungret

Saturday is recycling day at my house. So it's an early morning pack up and then off to Mungret where depending on how much you managed to squeeze into the back it can be €5 or €12 to drop off a van load of stuff.  It's a great feeling driving out of there, minus all the crap you came with. I rarely if ever bring garden waste as I try to find ways to recycle it in the garden but anyone using the recycling facility can pick up compost for free. The question is -is it worth taking? I was watching people arriving last Saturday with their trailer loads of garden waste trying to work it out.

trailer load of raw material getting dropped off

It was Jean at the ornamental veg talk that really got me thinking about this. Someone asked her what compost do you use and she said New Horizon. She went on to explain that its reclaimed from green waste-in other words recycled plant cuttings and pruning and general garden waste. Just as the stuff-for free in Mungret is. New Horizon has added food but it costs €6.50 a bag in Ellen st, or on special deal through B&Q you can currently get 3 bags for €10. Why spend the money on imported compost if you can get free stuff down the road?

The finished stuff ready to go

I was talking to the owner of McNamara's garden centre and he made a good point about the stuff in Mungret when he said people use it to dump "dirt" from the garden, meaning diseased plants, soiled earth, basically the complete lot of undesirables that you wouldn't voluntarily take into your own garden.

So where does that leave us?
Back at the recycling centre watching people dropping off trailer loads of stuff. In the short time I was there it was all cuttings, grass, wood and general garden waste all of which looked healthy. I wasn't out swabbing the samples for viruses and bacteria but hey! we all have a healthy dose of something in our garden. I have had fungal diseases, blight, white onion rot, wine weevils, and slow worms to name but a few! Surely the act of composting with all the heavy machinery involved at this yard to move and aerate it should deal with most of these problems?

heavy duty machinery at Mungret

I did try this stuff out last year and what I found for what it's worth is that it was very heavy with bits of wood chip and surprisingly light in assorted surprises from nails to plastic and anything you can think of in between. You could sieve it to use it as a finer grade compost for sowing or top soil but the rougher stuff is fine for the bottom of raised beds. The wood pieces in it are after all carbon based, and although they take a long time to break down they are essential to good soil health. New Horizon is much lighter and cleaner-no surprises of plastic pipes, Christmas tree tinsel, or sink stoppers!!!

it's rough but it has potential

Final verdict;
Any time you get horse manure, topsoil, seaweed, or compost you never know what "surprises" or "free gifts" you might also be getting unknown to yourself. There is feckall to be had for free lads(especially from the government) so if you are building raised beds you might take advantage of it and use it on the lower levels especially if you were finding it hard to find filling for your beds in the first place. If you sieve it you will be able to use it in many other areas and if you don't sieve it you might find it makes a good mulch for trees shrubs and new hedges, helping you keep off grass and weeds while slowly decomposing and feeding the soil over a long time. I think I will stick with New Horizon for sowing seeds but I wont pass on the free stuff for more industrial jobs.