Understanding peat-free

What is peat-free compost and how should we use it? Victoria Wright, of Melcourt Industries, looks at the introduction of peat-free compost and its various components

- Victoria Wright

ALL forms of peat will be unavailable for use by amateur gardeners from 31 December 2024 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with Scotland currently in consultation. The industry is still awaiting news from Defra detailing the Government’s final position on the forthcoming peat ban.

When peat use started 

Peat extraction for horticulture began on a commercial scale only in the 1960s. In 1990, a consortium of 14 of the UK’s leading main wildlife and archaeological conservation organisations launched the Peatlands Campaign to highlight the damage caused by peat-based industries and to promote the use of alternatives in growing media. In 2018, the Government launched its 25-year Environment Plan, which stated the intention to ban peat use in gardening.

Phasing out of peat 

The horticulture industry has been reducing peat since the start of the debate in the late 1980s, but serious reduction started in the late 1990s. So there were peat-free growers right from the start, but the more typical approach was to reduce the percentage of peat in the mix. The growing-media industry has been working together to create responsibly sourced composts and has been phasing peat out of retail bags for the past decade.

The Responsible Sourcing Scheme for Growing Media has been created to support gardeners during the change. The scheme scores retail products by how responsible the ingredient sourcing is. You can find more information at responsiblesourcing.org.uk. Look out for the scheme logo on bags.