SupaGarden Garden Peat 75 Litres Moss Peat Compost Garden Plant Soil Fertilizer

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We’re calling for a clear timeframe and a commitment to work with the wider horticulture sector to reduce dependency, promote innovative alternatives, and speed up the shift to a successful peat-free industry.” While many companies that use peat in their products talk about their regeneration practices and the work they do to protect peatlands and bog ecosystems, the only way to really protect them is to leave them alone. Alternatives Also, while people often use the terms interchangeably, it should be noted that peat and peat moss isn’t exactly the same thing. Peat moss, or sphagnum moss, is the most common component of peat, although other plants can be a part of the decayed material. The Good

As attention increasingly focuses on peat-free alternatives, we can expect to hear of more and more other options. Hemp fibre, wool, miscanthus, almond shells, dairy manure and even human waste are just some of those being investigated. "At the moment, I'm growing some amazing tomatoes in cork granules," notes Griffiths. The title of a report by the horticultural sector committee released today – Sowing the Seeds: A blooming English horticultural sector – is ironic, laughable even, in that if the ban goes through as scheduled (2024 for retail; 2026 for professionals; a complete ban in 2030), it states that there could be more than a 46 per cent loss in plant sales and a loss of more than 12,000 jobs.The brand is now set to expand to other stores in 2023. "This next-gen gardener, they're just looking for an organic potting mix, and they trust that it's going to work," says Arora. "I think we as a brand had one shot when we launched for the retailers and for the consumers to make sure it worked really well." However, Conroy notes that some growers are already growing carnivorous plants without the use of peat. "There might be certain uses for it, I think we need to be careful with scaling up making sure that it is a genuinely more sustainable alternative. It's certainly early days with that. But it is something that could have a place and it's certainly better than taking that material from bogs." Sustainable alternatives to peat which are of comparable quality to peat-based products are currently available. These are often made up of peat-free materials derived from more sustainable sources, for example wood fibre and bark, green compost, wool, coir and other materials. They often contain a different mix of ingredients to those found in multipurpose composts. These include small amounts of sand, grit or vermiculite in seed and potting composts, bark in orchid compost and mostly gravel and sand in cacti composts.

Quality isn't guaranteed - our compost trials reveal which composts are consistently good and which can be variable. Choose a Best Buy to be sure you're buying a reliable compost. Amateur gardeners use 66 per cent of the total peat consumed in the UK, most of it in growing media such as multi-purpose compost and growing bags. Ericaceous compost is used for acid-loving plants such as azaleas, camellias and heathers when you grow them in pots. Many have a high peat content. Remember to use an ericaceous feed to keep your plants healthy. It's also lightweight to transport, and a relatively "blank canvas" in terms of nutrients. "Manufacturers can just add whatever nutrients they want to, very often synthetic nutrients, and it will hang on to those well and release them, says Conroy.

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The main alternative to peat based compost is coir based. The majority of gardeners are finding the alternatives to be difficult to use, poor substitutes. See my post on Problems with Coir Compost and the comments. But what about the carbon?

We loved Monty Python, we screamed for The Beatles, and we couldn’t get enough of Downton Abbey, but in North America, we have yet to show our support for the peat ban taking shape across the pond. One of the best things to happen in the peat world in recent years is efforts toward making peat a renewable resource. Through organizations like the International Peat Society, ethical and ecologically sensitive harvesting has been put into practice. Living plant material is relocated to make extraction more ecological. They have developed initiatives to mitigate the conflicting interests of land protectors, conservationists, and peat producers. No Nutrients Additionally, master gardener Robert Pavlis tells me, workers in coir factories typically work six days a week in an unhealthy, dusty environment. Traditionally it is used to mulch the coconut trees there, but now, with increased demand, it’s coming here and denuding soils there. No peat-free multi-purpose compost currently replicates the water distribution and nutrient-holding properties of peat compost, and there is no set recipe for peat-free – every producer has their own unique mix of ingredients that need to be treated differently. It contradicts the notion that gardening is an activity which is beneficial to nature and places a burden of responsibility on the consumer to ensure they are not inadvertently buying environmentally destructive peat-based products.”BeadaMoss creates its sphagnum using "micro-propagation", starting in a lab then moving it to a greenhouse. "We start from perhaps about 12 or 15 stems of sphagnum [moss plants], and from that we can produce an infinite volume of sphagnum," says Wright. Wales is expected to enact a similar ban by May 2024, but in Northern Ireland proposals to phase out peat compost sales by 2025 were dropped from its Peatland Strategy 2022-2040, which was published earlier this month.

Peat extraction also degrades the state of the wider peatland landscape, damaging habitats for rare species of flora and fauna, and negatively impacting peat’s ability to prevent flooding and filter water. The amateur gardening sector has made huge strides in reducing peat use and there are now more sustainable and good quality peat-free alternatives available than at any other time, so I am confident now is the right time to make the shift permanent. The moss will release the water to maintain the wetland as well. This is why peat moss is such an essential addition to gardeners’ soil. Much of what we do is figure out the best possible ways to carry out good water retention in the garden. Peat moss bogs and in turn peaty soil are the main sources of moisture retention for many. That’s why it’s commonly used in potting soil, and to line wire baskets. All-Natural Source I’ve had a couple of people say this peat ban is something to do with the EU. Well, apart from the fact we left the EU, most of the EU continues to harvest and use peat. Incidentally, Ireland produces horticultural peat which I assume will be available in Northern Ireland. Alternatives to PeatToday’s announcement is bitterly disappointing. Last year we welcomed the news that the UK Government would ban the sale of bagged peat compost in England by the end of 2024. The Wildlife Trusts hoped that a ban on all peat products would follow shortly after this date. Peat is of far greater use to society in our uplands, bogs and fens, where it stores vast amounts of carbon, nurtures wildlife, preserves archaeology and acts as a flood defence, than it is in bags of compost.” Pretty much every store you go to will have some form of peat moss available, whether it be a potting mix, peat moss, or specifically sphagnum peat moss, you’ll have no trouble locating a source. So many growers rely on this plant for soilless mixes, starting seeds, and soil amendment and peat moss has been on the market for a long time. Therefore, it’s reliable. Doesn’t Compact Certain areas of these peat bogs are designated specifically for harvesting, most of which is done via a vacuum harvester. It’s not the live moss that’s desired, but the decayed moss that sits below.