Peat is a limited resource. We extract it from the ground in fragile peat-producing ecosystems known as peat-bogs or peatland. There’s a lot we could tell you about peat bogs but the topline is that they’re unique habitats, rich in biodiversity, and they are really old. It can take around a hundred years to grow just 10cm/sq of peat so imagine how many years are in every bag of peat-based compost. On top of that peatlands are crucial carbon sinks – storing more carbon inch-for-inch than rainforests.
Every inch we remove therefore damages the environment, the atmosphere, and contributes to climate change more rapidly than the planet is capable of healing itself.
So, like many in the gardening community, we are trying to use peat-free compost wherever we can. There’s a long way to go, as a lot of our plants will be grown in composts that still contain a quantity of peat, but the industry as a whole is on this journey. For now, we’re committed to always supplying bags of peat-free compost with our gardens. We use a fantastic company called [xxx] who make high-quality peat-free compost with just as many nutrients as the peatier varieties to make sure that your plants are just as happy, so we can leave the remaining peat bogs to do their thing for another couple of millennia.
We know there’s more we can do and we’ll continue to update you on our sustainability journey as we progress.
