Peat Action Pack

Mark Hamblin/2020VISION

Contents 2. What is peat and why does it matter?

4. What happened to our peatlands?

5. The peat ban 6. How to go peat-free 8. Make your own compost 9. What's hiding in your plant pots?

11. My Wild Garden 12. Want to do even more?

13. Spread the word

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Peat extraction on Little Woolden Moss by Matthew Roberts

Blog: Peatlands: what are they and how did they form?

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Hare's-tail cotton grass by Mark Hamblin/2020VISION

Thank you!

Just by downloading our peat action pack, you are already taking the first step to protecting our peatlands and the nature that relies on them. But what are peatlands, and why are they so important?

Peatlands are wonderful habitats, that provide us with a whole host of ecosystem service benefits. Peatlands are water-logged and acidic, which means that as layers of vegetation die they only partially decompose and are preserved as layers of precious peat, trapping carbon within them as they form.

Healthy peatlands...

Absorb carbon from the atmosphere, trapping it in their peaty soils for millennia, providing a vital natural resource in fighting the climate emergency.

Are home to lots of rare and specialised plants and animals, providing an important habitat and combatting our biodiversity crisis.

Provide natural flood mitigation, acting as giant sponges and absorbing water in storm events, before releasing it slowly downstream.

Are resistant to wildfires – wet peat doesn’t burn.

Naturally filter our drinking water.

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What happened to our peatlands?

Peat extraction on Little Woolden Moss

80 per cent of UK peatlands are damaged, stopping them being able to provide us with any of these vital ecosystem service benefits, and causing the release of huge amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. In fact, 4 per cent of UK greenhouse gas emissions come from degraded peatlands.

There are a number of reasons that peatlands are being damaged, including drainage and conversion to agriculture or peat extraction, traditionally for fuel, but more recently for use in horticulture.

To extract the peat, our peatlands are drained and the vegetation stripped. Huge machines then come in and dig the peat out of the ground, leaving these precious landscapes as black, desiccated wastelands.

In 2020 2.29million m3 of peat was used in UK horticulture, causing the release of 880,000 tonnes of CO2 – equivalent in emissions to driving to the moon and back 4,600 times!

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The peat ban The Government has announced a ban on the sales of bagged peat compost in England and Wales from 2024, and Scotland is expected to follow suit.

A further ban on the use of peat in commercial horticulture has been announced from 2026, with some exemptions until 2030. So this means that:

2024 - you won't be able to buy bags of compost containing peat.

2026 - ban on other professional uses of peat, with exemptions including growing plug plants, mushroom growing and other ‘plant types or production methods where peat cannot be readily replaced’.

2030 - there will be a total ban on all uses of peat in horticulture.

But...

This still means that millions of tonnes of peat is being extracted and used for horticulture until 2030.

You can go peat-free today and make a real difference.

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How to go peat-free

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Going peat-free in your garden is one of the quickest and easiest ways that you can help to combat our dual nature and climate crises. Simply make the decision to no longer use peat - and stick to it.

Our peat-free gardening checklist is a great place to start with lots of easy hints and tips.

Blog: Peat-free gardening checklist

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Make your own compost You will need A compost bin with a lid

Green compostable ingredients

Brown compostable ingredients

Garden fork

What to do 1. Place your bin on, or near, bare ground so that the worms can wriggle in 2. Fill it up with a mixture of brown materials like paper, cardboard and straw, and green materials such as vegetable peelings, coffee grounds and lawn clippings 3. Turn your compost with a fork around once a month to let more air in and increase composting speed 4. Be patient! It can take up to two years, but when your compost is ready it will be rich and dark Yes please

No thanks

Coffee grounds and tea leaves

Grass clippings

Raw fruit and veg peelings

Soft prunings and dead plants

Straw

Paper and card (not shiny)

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Woody stems

Cooked food

Perennial Weed seedheads weed roots

Cat or dog poo

Bones or meat

What's hiding in your plant pots?

Potted plants Many of the plants that you can buy in your local garden centre will have been grown in peat, so even if you are choosing a lovely native plant that the pollinators will love, it could still be doing more harm than good.

However, there are a growing number of dedicated peat-free nurseries out there, many of which offer online ordering and delivery. It’s also worth checking the label, or asking the retailer, as more and more plants are now being grown peat-free. But remember, if your plant isn't 100% peat-free then it is contributing to the destruction of our peatlands You can also grow your own plants from seed, cuttings or bulbs. Also consider buying trees, shrubs and other plants bareroot? The bareroot season runs from November to March and these are often much cheaper too.

Houseplants Unfortunately, many houseplants continue to be grown in peat, however there are a couple of dedicated peatfree houseplant growers, or why not get creative and grow your own from seed or cuttings?

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Turf

Large areas of the once extensive Chat Moss peatland in Greater Manchester has been drained and converted to the production of lawn turf.

In fact, a 10m x 10m lawn laid from this turf has the same carbon footprint as a seat on a return flight from Manchester to New York.

Unfortunately, turf grown on peat is not included in the upcoming horticultural peat ban, so why not seed a new lawn instead - and maybe add a few wildflowers too?

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Do you want to do even more for nature from the comfort of your own garden?

The My Wild Garden Awards rewards gardeners who are doing their bit for nature.

There is approximately 23 million gardens in the UK, and each one can be a mini nature reserve, joining up to be one huge sanctuary for nature!

Take our My Wild Garden survey now, and you could get your own award.

Going peat-free is just the first step...

Blog: How to go wild and peat-free in your garden

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Jon Hawkins Surrey Hills Photography

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Spread the word Talking to friends and family about the importance of going peat-free is a really simple and effective way of making a difference. If you can convince just a couple of people to go peat-free and then they do the same and so on, the snowball effect can really gain momentum!

Also, why not try spreading the word on social media?

Share your peat-free tips and successes, and why you think being peat-free is so important with the hashtag #PeatFree.

The power is in your hands Don’t underestimate the power of signing petitions and responding to government consultations. The recent consultation about the peat ban had a staggering 95% responses in favour of a ban - a result the government could hardly ignore!

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Lobby retailers Next time you are treating yourself to a trip to the garden centre, speak to staff and ask them about their peat-free ranges. Explaining that you are committed to a 100% peat-free garden now and that you are not waiting for the ban, and that you are encouraging other people to do the same, will help retailers to see that there is a real demand for peat-free options, especially with potted plants and turf.

You could also try contacting different retailers by letter, email or on social media, and asking them that way too.

Contact your MP The more emphasis that is put on the importance of protecting our peatlands, the better their fate will be.

Even with the peat ban our peatlands are still under threat from development, agriculture and shooting.

Contacting your MP can be a great way of highlighting to them the views of their constituents (who they are meant to be representing).

Check out our handy guide to finding your MP and the best way to contact them

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info@lancswt.org.uk @lancashirewildlifetrust @lancswildlife @lancashirewildlifetrust

Large heath butterfly at Astley Moss credit Lancashire Wildlife Trust