Whe-hey! A UK thread!
I'm happy now - not having a go at the yanks, but some of 'em keep going on about wal-mart and talking about SO much stuff you just can't get over here so "matter-of-factly" I DO sometimes wanna scream at them "ok, but WE CAN'T GET THIS STUFF AS EASILY IN THE UK!"
...well, at least WE can just walk into a smoke shop and buy seeds over the counter lol
(even if the good seeds CAN be expensive...)
I generally use J arthur bowers potting compost...My current grow (Ice Cream clone and Hawaii Maui-waui) is all done in some cheap stuff I found in poundland - BUT last time I went in they had 15 litre bags of J arthur soil...SO I bought 3 of em!
Finding high 42 watt CFL bulbs is another question though...
...having said that, I bought one of those CFL+reflector kits on ebay for about 50 quid - it paid for itself AND THEN SOME after a single 2-plant grow!