Globally more carbon is stored in the world’s peat bogs than the world’s forests.

and it is being harvested faster than it can be replaced. The result is a profound effect on climate change and it is not a good one.

Bogs and Fens, the sources of peat occupy between 3% and 5% of the world’s surface depending on your source. Much of the peat that is harvested for sale comes from Canada and Russia’s tundra. Canada supplies the most. Once peat is harvested, the carbon within it is released into the atmosphere. Peat is harvested because it is a great amendment for growing mediums in the horticultural world, plays a large role in the growing mixes we purchase as it contains fiber, which opens a clay type soil, is light, very water retentive and easy to work with. Interestingly it does not contain a large amount of nutrients and fertilizers are an added ingredient to the potting mixes we buy. In its natural state peat bogs and fens assist in preventing flooding, provide a valuable ecosystems keeping a balance for different creatures and provide a carbon sink/storage for the world. Our consumption and releases of so many stored plant materials gases, coal, oil and peat all contribute to the excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which accentuate the changes in our climate. It takes thousands of years for plants to decompose and store this carbon for us. Unfortunately we cannot go out and make new peat bogs. We can plant trees and we can with knowledge, lessen our use of other carbon producing materials.

In Ireland, for many years peat was harvested to provide heat in the home, still is in some areas, and seeing the extent of digging in those peat bogs was an eye opener for me in realizing the value of peat as a heat source but at the time I was there in in the seventies, I never connected the release of carbon into the atmosphere. Growing up and living with coal fires I didn’t ever consider what that carbon release was doing to our planet.  I was more interested in keeping warm, and toasting my bread on the end of a long toasting fork over the fire, which was a childhood treat.  I don’t believe many of us thought about carbon release at that time but as we become more and more aware of our dependence on plant sources of energy, I believe it is time to educate ourselves in how we can put back what we have taken in whatever ways we are able.

Sales of peat are due to cease this year, 2024 in the U.K.   There are growing signs of this awareness now in Canada and peat free mixes are gradually becoming more available. At one time, not so long ago, 1950’s gardeners would make their own growing mixes by using their own compost, natural soil, sand and a preferred fertilizer. Alternatives to peat are being developed, many of them using coconut based materials, coir, wood chips and rice husks but for a gardener with a home compost this task is not difficult. Garden soil mixed with home-made compost, leaf mould, sand or perlite and fertilizer will do the trick. It really is a matter of soil amendment on a finer scale to suit young plants and make planters easier to make up.  The down side of homemade potting mix is that it is not sterilized and may contain weed seeds.  Allowing a home mix to heat well in the sun may help with this problem.

Peat moss is still used in most planting mixes we currently buy at the nursery but the awareness is growing that eliminating its use will be one more way we can contribute to the healing of our atmosphere. I have noticed many more coir products over recent years and with an abundance of wood chips available to us , it will just be a matter of time before the removal of peat moss from our carbon sinks in the Arctic will also be eliminated, I hope.

In the meantime if we can look for and try peat alternatives, we will be contributing in one small way to healing some of the damage we inflict on this planet.

The World’s Largest Exporters Of Peat