Greener gardening - peat-free potting

Peat-free composts are now widely available in garden centres and shops, with more and more gardeners moving to this kind of growing media.  Peat-free is better for the environment, helping to protect precious peatlands which support biodiversity, store carbon and prevent localised flooding.

The government’s committed to banning peat in shop-bought compost and in professional horticulture; the RHS is moving towards becoming 100% peat-free across all of its operations, including shows, gardens and retail.

There’s now a wide range available to gardeners, and it’s worth trying and testing a few brands to find out which works best for you.  Mixes are made for various types of growing: seeds and seedlings, vegetables, houseplants, container plants and more, so there should be a compost to suit your needs.  Their ingredients often include wood fibres, coir, bark and green waste.

If you’re a bit baffled by what to buy, check out the Responsible Sourcing Scheme, which is working to make it easy to identify the best, most environmentally friendly brands of peat-free compost.  They have a traffic-light scoring system for products and comparison tables demonstrating the pros and cons of various growing media.