COUNTDOWN FOR PEAT
Do you know how much peat is in your potting compost? There’s a groundswell of concern among gardeners over the environmental cost of digging up peat to use in gardening. Yet we’re still planting our way through over two million cubic metres of peat every year.
Potting composts contain less peat than they used to – new industry figures show peat content is at its lowest in a decade. However, most are still far from peat-free. In fact only one in every 20 bags of compost on sale is peat free, and the average bag contains more than 40 per cent pure peat. Unless your bag of compost is clearly labelled peat-free, it will contain peat. ‘Organic’ doesn’t mean peat-free, nor does ‘eco-friendly’ or ‘sustainable’.
The plants you buy are usually growing in peat-based compost too – and at higher levels: professional composts are still on average two-thirds (62.9 per cent) peat. Pressure from eco-conscious gardeners looking for plants grown without the peat has bumped up
