Blog: News

-FREE bag of Wool Compost for Seeds with every order*-

Eating well, physical activity and spending time in the garden can do wonders for our well-being…so with this in mind, we would like to encourage more people into growing their own organic veg. With every order* we are giving away one FREE bag of Wool Compost for Seeds – why not give this to a friend or family member to spark their passion for gardening and battle the January blues!
If you place an order up until Monday 16th December, you will receive a free bag of seed compost in time for Christmas and ready for January seed planting.
As you complete your order on our website, all you need to do is quote GIFT19 on the Delivery Options page, under Special Instructions, and your bag of Wool Compost for Seeds will be sent along with your order. Or if you are making an order over the phone, quote GIFT19 to our staff.
See full terms and conditions below.

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What to sow in January…
Sweet Peas – Flowers May to June
Dahlias – Flowers July
Basil – Harvest May to October
Chillies – Harvest July to October
Tomatoes – Harvest June to October
For more January planting ideas visit Sarah Raven’s website

*Terms & Conditions: This offer entitles each customer to 1 x 12l bag of Wool Compost for Seeds worth £7.99 when placing an order online at www.dalefootcomposts.co.uk or via our sales office on 01931 713281. This offer is available between 00:00 Thursday 28th November 2019 and 23.59 Monday 16th December. Our website has a minimum order of 2 bags of compost with a delivery fee of £10 for up to 11 bags. There is no additional fee for the free bag of seed compost or delivery of the seed compost. The free bag will be sent to the recipient on the same consignment as their order by Dalefoot Composts. Entrants must state code GIFT19 either online in the delivery details or to our customer service assistant. Open to all UK residents aged 18 and over, excluding Northern Ireland and Scottish Highlands, relatives, partners and employees of Dalefoot Composts. Only one bag per customer. The promoter is Dalefoot Composts. By participating in this offer, customers confirm they have read, understood and agree to be bound by these terms and conditions. For more information please contact via our website at www.dalefootcomposts.co.uk or call us on 01931 713281.

Caption: Peatland before restoration

Caption: Peatland after restoration

Caption: Our range of peat-free composts

Dalefoot’s Professor Jane Barker is one of the experts interviewed by horticultural journalist Dr Fay Edwards in her brilliant new podcast episode on the use of peat in gardening. If you have ever wanted to know more about the real environmental impact of digging up peat from its natural environment, then we urge you to listen…

The podcast explores why peat has traditionally been used in compost, what the problems and issues are with extracting it from peat bogs, and the vital work taking place to restore damaged peatlands.

It also mentions the major organisations who have successfully switched to using peat free compost, like the National Trust, and outlines five things that you can do as a home gardener to help resolve the issue with peat.

Jane’s interview can be found around 30 minutes into the episode and she talks about the background to Dalefoot Composts, as well as outlining the sustainable ingredients we use in our compost and why sourcing them locally is so important.

Other guests featured include Dr Flo Renou-Wilson (research scientist, University College Dublin), Craig Macadam (Conservation Director, Buglife) and Chris Dean (Partnership Manager, Moors for the Future Partnership).

You can find the episode here. Please listen, encourage others to do the same and tell us what you think.

Caption: Packing compost in the sheds.

Caption: Celebrating our Soil Association Accreditation.

This month, we have been pleased to receive our accreditation as a Living Wage Employer. In a part of the country dominated by seasonal work and the zero hours contracts of the tourism industry, it’s great that some companies are bucking this trend. So, what’s it all about? Well, the basic premise is that the minimum wage can easily fall short of the level of income required to enable a person to feed themselves and afford adequate housing and heat. The living wage is calculated to meet these basic levels of need by raising pay to meet the required income band. This in turn enables workers to thrive in their work rather than fall behind in terms of basic living standards and possible debt.

Therefore, Dalefoot Compost employees, regardless of job position are ALL paid at the living wage or above. Even our new employees who may need a lot of training are paid at the living wage rate. Dalefoot Composts doesn’t just stop there. We understand the importance of long-term stable employment for our community and we therefore go above and beyond by offering both full-time and part-time roles on a PAYE Contract. Being able to employ a workforce on a PAYE means that employees can access regular income that stabilizes their economic situation. Employees are able to focus on their work rather than live with the anxiety about income next week or next month. With less worry, comes less stress related illness. Being a Living Wage Employer can actually reduce the number of sick days employees take each year.

Advertising as a Living Wage Employer attracts the best in the work force to apply to us when we have vacancies. Rather than recruiting from people who haven’t been able to get a job elsewhere, we are able to choose new team members from the very best locally. This in turn benefits our business as we can recruit skilled and ambitious individuals who can grow with the company.

A further benefit for Dalefoot Composts as the employer is via reputation. As a business with a national profile, we are able to tell our customers that we are pioneers of good employment practice in our area. We not only have a transparent supply chain; we have a transparent employment chain which means we contribute to a vibrant and thriving community with a long-term future in the rural economy.

Caption: Pauline Pears' Lizzano Tomatoes

Caption: Pumpkin Beth's Tomatoes

Caption: Pannier tumblers - Terry Marshall

2019 has been the Year of the Tomato here at Dalefoot Composts. We launched our no-feed Wool Compost for Tomatoes at Chelsea in May and have been amazed at the uptake in the market. Now is the time to report back as it’s also Organic September: Organic September is a month-long campaign run by The Soil Association designed to encourage more people to try organic as a way to promote and educate people about organic food & farming practices.

The feedback to our Wool Compost for Tomatoes has been overwhelmingly positive. The most common theme has come from growers who have been happy to save themselves the bother of buying and using additional feed:

‘I love your new Tomato Compost…My tomatoes are thriving’ See picture of Lizzano Tomatoes, July 2019. Pauline Pears.
She adds, ‘I love the fact that I don't have to feed them – one of my least favourite jobs’. Pauline is the author of The Organic Book of Compost.

In a similar vein, horticultural blogger, Beth Otway has grown cherry tomatoes this year. Her plants put on lots of healthy growth and have set plenty of fruit. They have been slower to ripen this year due to sowing seed slightly later than normal and lower light levels for a few weeks in July and August.

Beth says, ‘I’ve attached some photographs I’ve taken of the Tomato Honeycomb plants that I’ve grown in Dalefoot Tomato Compost. I am looking forward to enjoying the fruits as they ripen over the coming weeks.’

Beth adds, ‘I am a passionate advocate for going peat free. I’ve always been a peat free gardener, but I’ve not always managed to find good quality peat free compost. To search for good quality peat free products, I run peat free Compost Trials every year. Dalefoot Composts have been the top performing compost brand, in all of my trials to date.'

Thanks Beth! It’s dedicated growers like you who have inspired so many gardeners to go peat-free with your excellent results. You can follow Beth’s trials here.

If you fancy growing heart-shaped Tomatoes next year then try Rienhards Purple Heart. Master Tomato Grower, Terry Marshall has had stunning results with this variety.

Terry is also author of Tomatoes; The Inside Story, he repeatedly astounds us at Dalefoot Composts with his reliable and plentiful tomatoes. For those of us at beginners' level, he would recommend trying a bush variety like Tumbler. The photo opposite shows two Tumbler plants growing in our Tomato Compost used pannier-style over a post. As you can see, there’s plentiful fruit and no need to pinch out makes Tumbler ideal for novices. It’s so simple as the compost contains all the food you need, so just add water!

Terry sends us pictures taken on his ‘old-school’ camera so we’ve scanned this one in to share with you.

We’d like to make a photo gallery of tomatoes you’ve grown in our Tomato Compost this year, please email us your pictures to lizzi@dalefootcompost.co.uk.

Juliet, Dalefoot Composts. 2019

September is the month for planning which bulbs are going to add colour to your garden next Spring. Remember bulbs need 14 weeks of cold temperatures to ensure a good root system develops, giving you full Spring blooms. For more advice, visit the RHS website for their top tips.

Earlier this year, our Laura and her husband Luke, cycled 368 miles from Cumbria to Amsterdam on a tandem to admire The Netherlands' famously beautiful, colourful and fragrant flower-bulb fields. Here's her story...

Ever since planting my first bulbs and discovering the joy of growing Tulips, I’ve really wanted to visit the Netherlands at tulip time. They are world famous for their tulip, daffodil and hyacinth fields and we could think of nothing better than a cycling holiday around the miles and miles of tulip fields!

Straight off the ferry, we cycled the 17 miles through gorgeous national parkland to the world-famous Keukenhof Gardens. The park boasts 32 hectares of gardens which showcase 800 different varieties of tulips. Making up the showcase gardens are 7 million bulbs from 500 different flower growers showcasing the best of the Netherlands floriculture sector.

For us, the Keukenhof Gardens were the highlight of our entire Netherlands trip! Although an incredibly popular and busy attraction, the sheer size of the gardens mean that everyone is accommodated and can appreciate the tulip in all its glory.

Stands where you can make your own fresh flower crowns are dotted through different installations and exhibits which celebrate tulips, hyacinths and daffodils. I urge you to visit the Keukenhof gardens at least once in your lifetime at tulip time. The photos will not do it justice!

Laura