peat free compost

[smallblueplanet]

Not getting into this argument again but the Country File program was about the Somerset Levels. Where peat has been extracted for years, the man did admit that in the past natural habits have been destroyed. However they have now turned into their own new form of beautiful habitat which is about to receive World Heritage Status.

The small scale extraction now going on is in fact poor quality farm land and the claim is that it is better to extract the peat and then create new wild life habitat than to leave it as farm land. Those are the facts of the program now I will leave the argument to others.

Colin

So they were talking about a VERY specific example. This is not where most peat comes from I would wager. Very poor journalism is what it sounds like.

[Two_Sheds]

I've just bought 128 litres of B&Q peat free

That's a shame: you've just paid good money for the worst compost I've ever used. It's like scrapings from a forest floor, great big ole chunks of wood in it



I got lots of New Horizon at B&Q in their autumn sale (smug smiley)

[Dynamo]

Very poor journalism is what it sounds like.

Was that because they didn't agree with your opinion? I watch countyfile on a regular basis and I find it both very informative and usually very fair in its judgements. I can only assume that you never watch the programme for you to come out with such a blanket statement like that is so far removed from fact.

I think that what the guy being interviewed was saying was that there shouldn't be a blanket ban on peat extraction. He was saying that every site should be judged on its own merits. In the case of the site in question, a lot of good is being done. Would you rather the area was left alone as rubbish farmland, or would you prefer for the current project to carry on where they can continue making great wildlife habitats that are about to receive world heritage status? I know which one I would prefer.

That's a shame: you've just paid good money for the worst compost I've ever used. It's like scrapings from a forest floor, great big ole chunks of wood in it



I got lots of New Horizon at B&Q in their autumn sale (smug smiley)

I bought the compost on special offer and its not too bad to be honest. There is a bit of wood in it, but I'll soon sieve that out, and it will all get dug into the allotment somewhere.

I did look for New Horizon compost in the shop but I didn't see any.

[veggiechicken]

I didn't see this Countryfile programme but have watched others. My question is about the statement about it being "rubbish farmland". Surely there is no such thing? Land is land, and there is always a use for it. If one took that attitude most of the hill farms would have their land destroyed as "rubbish", just because the main, perhaps only, agricultural use for it is sheep grazing, as opposed to the more lucrative crop growing. I suspect that "Rubbish land" is a definition of the land owner who can see greater profit in selling peat than in farming. Many old quarries and landfill sites are now nature reserves and wildlife habitats - there is nothing exceptional in that.

[smallblueplanet]

Was that because they didn't agree with your opinion? I watch countyfile on a regular basis and I find it both very informative and usually very fair in its judgements. I can only assume that you never watch the programme for you to come out with such a blanket statement like that is so far removed from fact...(

Perhaps you could just ask for my answer rather than trying to be sarcastic? As it is you have made your mind up so I needn't bother replying...only to say perhaps your original post might have been clearer and less 'sensationalist' if what you now put is true.

[solway cropper]

The best peat-free compost is the stuff you make yourself and that's what we should all be doing. It isn't rocket science and the basic ingredients are all around us.

I reckon this year I'll have about 1500 litres of home produced, compost, leaf-mould, etc. to go at and I'm an old codger with arthritis so if I can do it anyone can. The only time I need peat is for my blueberries but I have a 1200 acre peat moss on my doorstep so that's not a problem...unless somebody tells English Nature.

[Dynamo]

Perhaps you could just ask for my answer rather than trying to be sarcastic? As it is you have made your mind up so I needn't bother replying...only to say perhaps your original post might have been clearer and less 'sensationalist' if what you now put is true.

I don't see anything wrong with my original posts. What I said is what you get in the tin so to speak. You were the one to dismiss the report in the programme with a sarcastic comment, so don't cry foul if someone goes sarcastic on you.

If you bothered to read my other posts in this thread I'm sure you'd have found it blatantly obvious that I HAVEN'T already made my mind up, hence the reason why I purchased a load of peat free compost today.

[Two_Sheds]

The best peat-free compost is the stuff you make yourself ...The only time I need peat is for my blueberries

Bracken is a good substitute for peat, and it's a weed in most areas. "Wakehurst Place has a partnership with Ashdown Forest to compost bracken. ..rotted down in Compost Corner this provides a ready supply of acidic compost useful for mulching acid-loving rhododendrons"

Monty Don uses composted bracken, pine bark and pine needles as a peat replacement.

"Peat has only been in widespread use since the mid-Seventies. Before this, gardeners either made their own potting and seed compost or bought ready-made composts with loam (soil composed of sand, silt and clay in relatively even concentration), doing the job of peat. In the intervening years we have been fed the myth that peat is essential" Do we need to use peat? - Telegraph

"Plants like rhododendrons and camellias don’t need peat, they need a lime-free, water-retaining medium with a low pH."

[Dynamo]

I have home made compost bins at my allotment, plus I recently bought a couple of big dalek type bins from the local council for home. The compost I make at the allotment is usually no better than the course peatless compost you usually get so I just spread that onto the allotment as a general soil improver. Its still early days with the daleks at home. I haven't even started on the second one yet.

[Potstubsdustbins]

In the interest of fair debate a couple of points for you to discuss.

(a) If all peat usage for gardening in Britain was stopped for a year tomorrow. One Irish power station would burn that amount of peat in about 21 days and there are three peat powered power stations. Maybe just maybe the ban should start there.

(b) Some experts state that sphagnum is growing at a faster rate in the northern hemisphere than it is being used in potting composts.

(c) And most shocking. Even Bob Flowerdew argues the case for using peat in some instances.

There's interesting.

Colin

[mrpaulbradley]

Bought B&Q peat free last year and was not impressed in the slightest very VERY coarse.
I sieved it and used it to bulk up my own heap.
This years heap is a lot bigger, so hoping to buy less :-) if I do though, I think I'll get the New Horizons.

Re the ecological debate. The amounts of peat used for substrates is tiny compared to the amounts used in certain countries for power stations. It's they who do the real damage sadly both in terms of destroying habitat and in CO2 emissions. :-(

[Two_Sheds]

The amounts of peat used for substrates is tiny compared to the amounts used in certain countries

Don't worry about the carbon footprint for a minute. 94% of the UK's peat bogs have been destroyed. I don't care what they do abroad, I don't want my beautiful countryside and its wildlife totally destroyed because we are too lazy/ignorant to use alternatives.

So there.
Now shoot me.

[Shadylane]

I tried using my own compost mixed with sand (last year) for seed sowing. Lets just say I won't be doing that again. I have got loads of leaf mould on the go so in a couple of years....

As for New Horizon - it's probably the best, but I do find it runs out of oomph very quickly. I'm going to try watering with weed bin tea this year, see if that improves things.

The problem is finding it at a reasonable price. There's not many places that sell it, one GC near where I work doesn't even do peat free. When I asked them they tried to tell me that it was all peat free these days. Obviously I looked at him with a 'don't think so' face and he admitted his error after looking at the bags. Someone higher up told me they don't do it cos it's too expensive and no one wants it cos it's not very good. When the consumer is up against this kind of garbage is there any wonder people won't go peat free?

[Potstubsdustbins]

2Sheds why would anyone want to shoot you for having such laudible intentions I don't think anyone could argue your train of thought about our countryside.

However I don't think our political masters have thought this though properly. Yes there is loads of rhetoric but very little else. I fear this may go the way of the much lauded ban on hand guns which cost the tax payers millions of pounds yet delivered nothing in the way of reduced armed crime. And in reality was a quick knee jerk reaction to placate the anti gun lobby.

There will still be peat extraction for other purposes and the very small reduction will do nothing to reduce the damage being done either nationally or globally. The peat extraction companies will look to other markets and if they find something more lucrative may even up production.

Of course there is already talk of circumnavigating the ban by just buying a bale of peat and making your own compost.

In my own opinion the best way forward for gardeners would be for the peat free industry to make a determined effort to produce a product that is demonstrably as good as 'peat in' compost. Until that happens this argument will continue.

Colin

[Alison]

In my own opinion the best way forward for gardeners would be for the peat free industry to make a determined effort to produce a product that is demonstrably as good as 'peat in' compost. Until that happens this argument will continue.

Personally I find that NH peat free already performs better than most of the multipurpose peat based ones I used to use. You have to be more regular with your watering but the plants like that anyway. There are people who are willing to try things and others who you'll never convince regardless of the evidence.