Peat-free Garden Campaign Help Pages

Garden & Composting Tip Submitted by You!

Listed below are a number of ideas and tips on composting or gardening without peat that have been submitted by IPCC members and supporters of the Peat-free Garden Campaign.

If you have a composting tip, or advice for gardeners who are trying to go peat - why not send it in to us by post or e-mail at bogs@ipcc.ie

Composting Ideas

If you are starting a wormery - don't bother buying an expensive bin designed for the job - an ordinary plastic bin, with hole drilled around the base, will work just as well and cost only Euro 12-15.

Ian Greenway, Warden of the National Trust Gardens - The Argory uses his own compost made from leaf mould which they mix with horse manure.

Peat-free Gardening Tips

I am a dedicated peat-free gardener and have been for some years. I have been using composted dried sieved leaf mould and substituting it for peat in Jon Innes formula, loam based, seed and potting composts for the last 3 to 4 years and have been very succesful in this. I am also trying this year using the national Trust (Rowallane) composted bracken compost for potting. I have already phased out the use of peat in my garden and of course I also make conventional compost which I use mainly in the vegetable garden and I also compost shredded woody material for use as a mulch on my flower beds. I simply do not understand why so many atricles are written (e.g. in the latest number of "The Garden") which fail to mention the substitution of leaf mouold for peat in seed and potting composts.

Prof Amyan Macfadyen, Coleraine, Northern Ireland

Acid loving plants

Use pine needle litter instead of peat if you are trying to grow acid loving plants. Make sure you have gloves on when you go to collect litter in a conifer woodland as the needles are very sharp. Comosted bark is also relatively acid.

Henry Doubleday Research Association: In the organic garden, grow the plants to suit the soil - don't grow lime haters in an alkaline soil. For acid plants in containers you can do the following which will help keep the soil/compost acidic:

Water with rainwater
Use sulphur chips
Use well rotted leafmould mixed with pine needle litter
Try composted bracken or composted bark - both tend to be naturally acidic.