It’s Ben from Field Compost again and what a difference a couple of month’s make! 
The barmy summer weather has arrived at last and the combination of sunshine, a good quality topsoil (with plenty of Field 18 manure mixed in) and plenty of watering is now paying dividends in our front garden. The trick now is to stay on top of the weeds, continue feeding, plenty of watering and most importantly; to enjoy the fruits of our labour! 
It’s been a busy spring at Field Compost Ltd with a record number of bulk bag sales and some exciting developments in the trial of a new product that will hopefully be launched in spring 2017.
How many bags do I need?
You will see from my last post on this blog that the benefits of buying bulk bags from Field Compost Ltd are clear. However this spring we have had a lot of people enquiring about the quantities of products supplied in our bulk bags. The answer is straight forward as the majority of products are supplied in a huge 1000L (1 cubic metre) bulk bag (with the exception of our Field 5 & 6 topsoil products, sharp sand & horticultural grit).
The next question is often how do I calculate how many bags I need? The answer is again simple; measure the approximate length, width and depth of the area you wish to fill in metres. Then just apply this basic equation; length (m) x width (m) x depth (m) = volume (m3). With products that contain a high percentage of organic matter like mulches, compost and soil conditioner it’s best to add an additional 10% to the quantity required to allow for settlement. If you find your calculations show you need just marginally more than a multiple of 1m3 then tell Field Compost Ltd when ordering and we can supply a few small bags to make up the quantity required.
For example; to calculate the quantity of Field 15 vegetable planting compost required to fill a new raised bed measuring 4m x 3m to a depth of 0.3m: 4 x 3 x 0.3 = 3.6m3. Add 10% for settlement; 3.6m3 + 0.36m3 = 3.96m3 so 4 x 1m3 bulk bags are required. 
To give you an idea of what a cubic metre bag looks like see the picture above (right), the bag on the left is a 730 L “Tunnel Bag”. A word of caution though, it has been brought to our attention that there are quite a few businesses describing the smaller 730L bags as a cubic metre, so make sure you check first if shopping around – as you can see the difference is huge!
New product coming soon!
This spring Field Compost Ltd began trialling a range of new growing media products with their friends at Darwin Nurseries in Cambridge. The blends trialled all contained a humus product that Field Compost Ltd have acquired through a recent heathland restoration project. “Mix C” showed the most promise during the nursery trials and it is now being tested by members of the Field Compost “Compost Club“. All the results so far are very exciting so watch this space for more news in the near future. Here a just a few pics showing some of the results so far:
