Easter weekend can be the busiest vacation for gardeners . From durable geraniums to bee - attracting universe , we have it off getting in our summertime colour – 252 million green goddess and tray of them every year to be precise . It is also the weekend when the UK ’s peat sales rocket . Despite 20 years of knowingness - breeding by conservation Jacob’s ladder , BBC Gardeners ’ World hosts and more peat - free choices than ever before from all the major garden retailer , peat sale stand at three billion liter every year and are go up …
Peat grows at a rate of 1 mm a yr … the good word is that none of UK ’s favourites call for it . From 1 to 10 , these are Marigolds , Geraniums , Begonias , Busy Lizzies , Lobelia , Petunias , Violas & Pansies , Antirrhinum / Snapdragons , Cosmos , and Tomatoes .
Pansies © Denis Lesak
Peat takes millennia to grow - commercial descent can move out over 500 years ‘ deserving of ontogenesis ’ in a single year . To bring peat to market , wildlife - racy wildernesses are strip of vegetation and then wrapped in credit card . boo care golden plover and butterflies such as the chequered captain rely on healthy peatland habitats . In addition , cotton Mary Jane , cuckooflower , marsh reddish blue and sundew accompaniment mintage such as butterflies , snake feeder , snipe , curlews and Alauda arvensis .
Dr Trevor Dines explains : “ A well - carry display of summer garden plants and vegetables is a joy , providing instant colour and intellectual nourishment for insects , to last the time of year long . But in using peat as compost for these plants , we are quite literally ‘ costing the ground ’ . The good tidings is that our top 10 favourites will savor peat - free compost , which is readily available at garden Centre – it ’s just as effective and competitively priced . Most significantly , it has ZERO impact on the surroundings . And do n’t just take our word for it - the National Trust has been peat - free for years and RHS gardens are 97 % peat - free . governing is committed to phasing out peat use for gardener ; Be forrader of the bender and conjoin us in urging admirer and relation to go # peatfreenow . ”
Plantlife ’s Ben McCarthy , electric chair of the peat partnership say “ In the fight against mood change , the peatlands of the British Isles are one of our greatest assets : we can not underestimate their importance for carbon capture . In the UK they entertain more carbon than forests , but the extraction of peat destroys this carbon paper - rich habitat and result in significant carbon copy emission and the lose voltage of carbon sequestration . forward motion in alternative growing spiritualist mean that peat can be left in the earth . Governments across the UK ask to play immediately to stop the use of peat for horticulture and other commercial-grade purposes ” .
Plantlife is working with key gardening organisations let in the Royal Horticulture Society and the National Trust as well as the RSPB , Wildlife trustfulness and Friends of the Earth , to plight government and the horticultural craft since 2017 , to push for greater action to kibosh the use of peat in gardening and ensure that internationally authoritative peatlands are protect and restored .
source : Plantlife
