Peat has been used to grow vegetables since the 60s, and even now, some organic veg box schemes continue to use peat to grow lettuce, even though other gardeners manage to do so without. Peat is still legal to sell in garden centres, yet gardener Monty Don calls using it ‘eco-vandalism’ and wants the government to speed up ban of its sale, due to the bogs being home to endangered wildlife and insects. Peatland habitats support many of England’s protected species like nesting curlews, golden plovers and hen harriers, as well as countless amphibians and reptiles.
Compost is toxic to pets (and dogs like the smell). It can contain decaying matter, and cocoa, pine and rubber mulch can poison, puncture and choke respectively. Learn more on how to make your garden safe for pets (and how to plant a wildlife-friendly garden.
The reason peat has been used over normal organic matter is because it’s able to absorb water due to forming in wet and acidic environments without oxygen. The most efficient ‘carbon sink’ on the planet, peatlands store more carbon than all our forests and damage to them harms our planet and wildlife within it. Once you harvest peat, the carbon dioxide that is stored is released, to be wrapped in plastic and sold in garden centres.
Peat is not renewable, so we’ve lost half of all peat bogs, with danger of them going extinct. Peatlands are also home to 5000 species of insects, and supply most of our drinking water (and help prevent floods). Yet just 1% of lowland peats remain in England.
why grouse shoots harm peat bogs
Peat burning often occurs on land used for grouse shooting, by burning the vegetation that lays on top of the peat (usually purple moor grass or heather). This is to provide 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
Peatland habitats also support many important species, including ground nesting birds like curlew, golden plover and hen harriers, and amphibians and reptiles.
where to buy good peat-free compost
Keep all soil conditioners away from pets and children, due to natural aromas (wear gloves when handling and wash hands after use, seek medical advice if swallowed). Store in a cool place, away from sunlight. Of course you could always make your own garden compost.
- Natura Grow offers an organic compost made from energy crops on a Cambridgeshire farm, which are then fed into anaerobic digestors (which also helps to supply us with energy). You can buy this as a liquid feed or pellets that are added to soil.
- Some are made from coir (a by-product of processing coconuts) and others use bracken. Two good brands Fertile Fibre and Natural Grower.
B & Q now sells own-brand peat-free compost and commits to going peat-free by 2026. But why wait until then?
choose ‘unpeated’ organic whisky
Nc’Nean Whisky is the first Scottish organic whisky, which does not use peat for environmental reasons. Sold in an recycled glass bottle, this has flavours of citrus, peach, apricot, spice and rye bread. Made with organic barley and matured in red wine and American whisky barrels, it’s made in a net zero distillery. The company founder (who set up the brand on her parents’ farm on Scotland’s west coast) said she never considered using peat fires to dry the malted barley, due to peats housing biodiversity and capturing carbon. She says that peated whiskies taste like TCP!