For peat’s sake

Anna Ford | Communications lead

April is the month when people traditionally flock to garden centres in their droves to buy packs of plastic-packed compost as they prepare their gardens for summer. The month kicked off with mixed news for those of us concerned about the use of peat in compost, and who understand the need to keep this precious carbon store locked in the ground.

The UK government has recently announced proposals to outlaw burning heather on peatland. This is welcome news but, along with other conservation groups, we urge the government to go further: all peatland should be protected from burning and destruction.

In their undamaged state, peatlands represent a vast store of carbon laid down in undecayed plant material over at least 10,000 years. In Scotland, peatlands store around 1.6 billion tonnes of carbon – one-third of the carbon held in the Amazon rainforest, despite being 250 times smaller than the Amazon rainforest in area. In England, peatlands store 580 million tonnes of carbon.

But only 4 percent of them are in good condition. When peatlands are drained, eroded or burned, carbon is released into the atmosphere. The UK’s damaged peatlands today emit around 3.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year, equivalent to the emissions of 660,000 UK households.

While the government proposals could mean that an extra146,000 hectares of upland peat areas would be protected, the total area of England’s deep peat is 677,000 hectares. These proposals do not go anywhere near far enough.

The Royal Horticultural Society attracted ire recently too when they announced they would delay the banning of peat in compost at the Chelsea Flower Show until 2028. The news is a unjustifiable climbdown on a pledge to ban it by the end of this year.

The planet is on fire and we cannot continue abusing and squandering peatland, our greatest ally in the battle against climate change. If you are buying compost for your own garden, please make sure it is peat-free. Better still, make your own compost. And when buying potted plants, make sure they are in peat-free compost too. If it doesn’t say ‘peat-free’, don’t buy it.

The destruction of this carbon store is not  ‘peat-ering out’ fast enough.

Find out how to garden in tune with nature at Knepp, with our events, tours and workshops in the Rewilded Walled Garden: Wild Garden Tours – Knepp Estate, West Sussex