Amateur Gardening

The quest to reduce the use of peat

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email ruth.hayes@futurenet.com

WHILE our story about Monty Don and his views on peat in gardening caused a heated debate among our readers, it also shone a light on the problems suppliers face while trying to meet the demand for peat-free products.

Your responses – and thank you to everyone who contacted us – showed that while most of you either garden without peat or with as little peat as possible, many people find the costs of doing so prohibitive.

Although peat products can often be bought under ‘three for a tenner’ deals, peat-free substrates are often more expensive.

And there’s the rub: Monty’s widely-shared views about peat are highly commendable, but not always easy to implement.

Logistical problems

It’s all very well suggesting that people make their own compost, but not everyone has the physical ability or space for a compost heap or even a Dalek bin.

To compound the

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