The high price of our beautiful gardens

Urgent appeal

Even though most of us are environmentally aware, the damage caused by the sourcing of peat isn’t widely known. Peat is used for propagating and growing plants, because it retains moisture and stores nutrients. But taking peat from its natural home of organic wetlands destroys wildlife habitats for many rare species including butterflies, dragonflies, birds and unique plants.

Why extracting peat is bad for the environment
Peat bogs are major carbon sinks, holding four times as much carbon as forests. When peat is extracted from the bogs it releases huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The UK peat industry alone is responsible for 630,000 tonnes of carbon emissions a year – the equivalent of more than 100,000 cars. And that’s why we should talk about peat a lot more than we do.

Peat has no place in horticulture
Garden Organic wants to eradicate the use of peat in horticulture. We have to bring forward the Government deadline to banish the use of peat in gardening, promote peat free alternatives and raise awareness among the gardening community. But we can only do that with your support.

By making a donation and signing the Peat Free Promise you will be directly supporting Garden Organic's campaign to Protect our Peat. It is our goal to reduce and eventually eradicate the horticultural use of peat.

Garden Organic's Peat Manifesto

It is our goal to reduce and eventually eradicate the horticultural use of peat. This is how we will do it:

• Lobby the Government to end peat sales to gardeners by 2016
• Call on garden centres and supermarkets to stop selling peat products
• Encourage honest labelling of peat products
• Raise awareness amongst gardeners of the harm caused by using peat
• Promote peat alternatives
• Ultimately protect the biodiversity of fragile peatlands and the habitats they provide for animals, insects, birds and plants.

Click here to download the leaflet