Reasons to Avoid Peat Compost
Peat is basically a soil made from dead and decaying matter, mixed with clay and rocks. It takes ages to form (around 1mm a year) yet is immensely important (and England contains most of the world’s peat bogs – they are like our ‘rainforests’).
Also read how to make your own compost.
Formed over thousands of years in low-oxygen environments, you’ll find natural peat bogs across England in bogs, mires (wetlands) and fens. England’s most extensive peat bogs are found in the Pennines, North York Moors, and parts of the Lake District and south west England.
Peat bogs absorb water (so prevent floods), stop release of greenhouse gases (so reduce climate change) and also support habitats of many endangered birds (like plovers and curlews) and dragonflies – most live in peat bogs).
But instead of leaving them where they are, industry moves in and removes them – to grow plants for garden centres. Most stores now don’t sell peat compost (there is an upcoming Bill to ban the sale of peat for horticultural use, but it will take years). But a lot of peat is ‘hidden’ (in pot plants or plug plants etc).
You wouldn’t like it if a bulldozer came into your home and upturned your entire life, leaving you homeless and without food and shelter. Yet that is exactly what is happening, in the peat industry to our most precious wildlife, many of them endangered species.
Using peat in your garden is a sign of environmental vandalism. f
The government is running out of time to fulfil its promise to ban the seal of peat to gardeners. Peat belongs in bogs, not bags. Whenever a peatland is dug up, a natural habitat is destroyed, with appalling consequences for wildlife and our climate. Alison Steadman (actress and wildlife campaigner)
Peatlands have the power to help lock up carbon, alleviate flooding and help wildlife recover. So why on earth are we still allowing them to be dug-up? It has to stop. Iolo Williams, wildlife expert
Peatlands is a book on the value of peat bogs by award-winning garden writer Alys Fowler. She calls for us to sink deep into the dark black earths of these rugged places, and take a look at the birds, animals, plants and insects, that live within them.
Living in Wales (nestled between bogs) makes this book both personal and illuminating. Her odyssey takes her from the Peak District to Ireland, creating an intimate picture of these magical places and the people who care.
The Book of Bogs is an anthology of stories and poetries from various writers, looking at threatened landscapes like bogs and other peatlands. Like peat, this book is full of living things: scientific study, archaeological discovery; personal stories of suffering and growth. Not just in England but abroad, like the peatlands of Papua New Guinea.
Choose Peat-Free Whisky
Most brands of whisky are made with peat. Read our post on peat-free whisky!
The Hunting Industry Burns Peat Bogs
Peat burning often occurs on land used for grouse shoots, by burning vegetation (that lays on top of peat), usually purple moor grass or heather. This provides new heather shoots for grouse (so they are easier to find and shoot).
A voluntary ban by government a few years ago did not work, with Greenpeace reporting fires on peatlands, in northern England’s national parks.
The peat bogs on a grouse shooting estate were on fire. The burning of peatlands is likely to exacerbate floods downstream. Towns in the Calder Valley such as Todmorden, Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd have been flooded repeatedly. George Monbiot
