Call for a ban on peat in garden compost

I've not bought compost with peat in it for years.
However, here in France compost is both expensive compared to the UK and very, very variable in quality, especially if you want peat-free. Last year I opened an expensive bag I'd bought for seed sowing and the smell was so amazing it took me right back to my parent's garage which doubled as potting shed when I was growing up in the 70s. Yep. Full of peat ...

^^^^^ A time machine in a bag
It's amazing how smells can remind you of things of long ago something you haven't thought about for many years can suddenly be remembered just by a smell, in many cases a joy,

Bord na Mona have a new (2019) peat free called Happy Compost. It's a blend of bark, green waste compost, coir and wood fibre. Apparently they sold 7 million odd bags of it last year. I've still not seen it in the two garden centers near me, which is funny considering the green waste compost component is made half a mile down the road from them.

Can, I have difficulty imagining what its like to live on the Bog, surrounded by peat. I know we've seen photos but I can't relate to it at all. Our soil is so different wherever we live.

Veggie, my garden is normal soil on top of several feet of stones and building rubble. The plot had to be raised out of the bog so we don’t risk sinking or being flooded. So when I need peat I just take the tractor down the bog and shovel up some peat into the back box. My back garden has had numerous loads of topsoil and farm yard manure plus peat. When I bought the place there was less than 1” of soil on top of the stones. So to create a garden I started hauling in top soil. Over the years this has grown and improved.

^^^^^ A time machine in a bag
It's amazing how smells can remind you of things of long ago something you haven't thought about for many years can suddenly be remembered just by a smell, in many cases a joy,

Like the smell of freshly cut grass, I don’t think there is a nicer smell except for hot soda bread out of the oven. Both bring me back to my childhood.

Bord na Mona have a new (2019) peat free called Happy Compost. It's a blend of bark, green waste compost, coir and wood fibre. Apparently they sold 7 million odd bags of it last year. I've still not seen it in the two garden centers near me, which is funny considering the green waste compost component is made half a mile down the road from them.

Hey TMTT, are you living in Ireland?, Bord an Mona is an Irish Company just wondering when you say the green waste component is made down the road from you.

Bord na Mona have a new (2019) peat free called Happy Compost. It's a blend of bark, green waste compost, coir and wood fibre. Apparently they sold 7 million odd bags of it last year. I've still not seen it in the two garden centers near me, which is funny considering the green waste compost component is made half a mile down the road from them.

Hey TMTT, are you living in Ireland?, Bird an Mona is an Irish Company just wondering when you say the green waste component is made down the road from you.

No, I live near Liverpool. In 2017 Bord na Mona bought out a company called White Moss Horticulture, who run the green waste composting facility 4 miles away from me. The two garden centres are half a mile down the bypass from the composting facility. They have another big composting facility about 8 miles from me where it seems they're going to be shifting the production of Happy Compost to.

Thanks for the explanation TMTT

^^^^^ A time machine in a bag
It's amazing how smells can remind you of things of long ago something you haven't thought about for many years can suddenly be remembered just by a smell, in many cases a joy,

Like the smell of freshly cut grass, I don’t think there is a nicer smell except for hot soda bread out of the oven. Both bring me back to my childhood.

My trigger for jolting back to childhood is the smell of my dad’s old shed on a warm day - mainly creosote I think.

Even a bank is now supporting the removal of peat from every day use, and the RHS (probably 25 years too late) is going to go peat free (by 2025).

"Peat bogs are rapidly disappearing, resulting in the destruction of a rare and special habitat and one of the earth’s greatest carbon stores. This National Gardening Week (27 Apr – 03 May) our partner Garden Organic wants to remove peat from horticulture for good."

https://www.forpeatssake.org.uk/?utm_sou...B_ezine_IC