What is wrong with using peat-based materials in the garden?
It’s confusing, but the compost that’s sold in garden centres doesn’t come from a compost heap. Most of it comes from peat bogs in the UK and Ireland. Peat is formed from the remains of plants such as sphagnum moss, and is preserved under the cold, wet and acidic conditions found in a peat bog. Peat bogs provide an important habitat for a whole range of birds, insects and plants. They also provide an important record of the climate, as well as the plants and animals that lived in the peat, over the past 10,000 years. The problem is that the peat bog is being threatened: some people want to plant trees on it, others want to bag it and sell it to gardeners. Lowland raised bogs are particularly vulnerable with only 6% now remaining unaffected. It’s for these reasons that the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the Worldwide Fund for Nature UK are calling for an end to peat extraction. This is being taken seriously by organisations such as National Trust, which is setting an exam
