Gardeners urged to stop using peat compost

Brian Unwin, The Telegraph 28 Jul 08;

The demand for peat for use by Britain's gardeners continues to cause environmental damage.

Despite two decades of campaigning and readily available alternatives gardeners account for almost 70 per cent of peat used in horticulture, according to The Wildlife Trusts.

As a result more than 90 per cent of UK peatlands formed over thousands of years and the ecosystems they contain have been damaged or destroyed.

Bogs also act as important carbon sinks and draining them before peat extraction can begin releases harmful greenhouse gases threatening people as well as wildlife.

This summer greater than ever emphasis is being placed on the need for peat to remain as the basis of a dwindling number of important wildlife habitats - not stuffed into plastic bags stacked in garden centres and supermarkets.

After International Bog Day (July 27) and its message that garden soil can be enriched without devastation to magical wild places, there is the Festival of the Solway Mosses (August 9 - 16) underlining the wonders of habitats that will be lost if extraction isn't curtailed extensively.

It is particularly a celebration of north Cumbria's nationally important peatbogs and there will be opportunities for free guided tours of some of the sites, along with a programme of talks and family events in nearby Carlisle.

The festival's joint organisers are the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Solway Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Natural England and the Environment Agency, who are working together to protect the area's surviving peatlands.

Peatbogs are part of the mosaic of wetland habitats at the RSPB's Campfield Marsh reserve near Bowness-on-Solway and its manager Norman Holton said: "Lowland bogs are one of the scarcest and most precious wildlife habitats in Europe.

"We are fortunate to still have so much of this irreplaceable landscape in Cumbria. Peat bogs are fantastic places, not just packed with rare wildlife but full of history too. The Festival of the Solway Mosses is a great chance to find out all about what goes on here and have a fun time with the family."

Through International Bog Day, The Wildlife Trusts is urging gardeners to help the survival of such habitats everywhere by opting for the green alternatives.

They want to see 90 per cent of the UK market for composts and soil improvers to be peat-free by 2010, in line with Government targets. With less than two years to go, they are stressing the need to switching to bark, coir and green compost to meet that target.

Chain stores such as B&Q, Focus DIY and Homebase already stock peat-free products.