Archived press release

Gardeners urged to avoid peat this bank holiday

30 April 2002

Friends of the Earth is calling on gardeners to keep their gardens green and continue to avoid peat and peat-based products this Bank Holiday - one of the busiest weekends for planting in the gardening year[1]. And it is also calling on gardeners to keep up the pressure on those retailers who have still not committed to going peat-free.

Over recent years, thousands of gardeners have being doing their bit to protect peat bogs -which are some of the UK's finest wildlife sites - by refusing to buy peat. And while B&Q, Homebase, Focus and Wyevale Country Gardens have led the trend for retailers by promising to phase-out peat-based products, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Safeway and ASDA, are yet to commit to going peat free.

Pressure from retailers was a vital factor in securing a major victory earlier this year, when US corporation Scotts agreed to end peat-extraction at three of the UK's top wildlife sites [2]. But Friends of the Earth is urging consumers to keep up the pressure, as peat bogs are still under threat.

• Under the deal, Scotts can still continue to extract peat on half of Hatfield Moor for a further two years.
• Commercial peat cutting is also still continuing in the UK on Somerset Levels and at other sites.
• Wildlife sites abroad are still being destroyed by peat companies, and peat is imported into the UK.

Peat free gardening is easy. The National Trust, which operates 200 of the nation's finest gardens is completely peat-free and the “Eden Project” in Cornwall was developed without using peat.

TV gardener Monty Don said:
“No garden is an island. Every time a gardener buys a bag of peat they are directly responsible for destroying some of our most precious wildlife habitats. Nowadays, there are plenty of good substitutes that are in many ways more useful to peat. The truth is that there is no excuse for ever using peat in our gardens. Keep it in the bogs where it belongs”

Craig Bennett, wildlife campaigner at Friends of the Earth said:
"If gardeners really want to have green fingers they should avoid peat-based products. Many gardeners have cut out peat because they know its extraction damages the[2] Although the Government and US corporation Scotts have agreed to end commercial peat- cutting in the UK - consumers must still be vigilant when shopping for garden supplies."

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust