To be peat free, or not to be, that is the question

[Ninnyscrops.]

Having just replied to a thread about peat free compost, which I use thinking I was doing my bit towards the environment, I decided to have a google on the subject and maybe wish I hadn't. I read that peat bogs are actually sustainable and can be replenished.

It would appear that some of the commercial growers just can't live without it and therefore don't appear to be doing their "bit" like some of us.

Then the penny dropped.

Added to this is the fact that coir, which is incorporated into many peat free products, has been shipped half way round the world and taken from countries where the local farmers use this as a growing medium.

So it would seem the only truly friendly stuff is going to have to be the compost from the local recycling point which will have to be sieved for seeds and I'll probably only end up with a 60% useable product. I won't be able recycle the lumps I can't use in the garden waste as it will be considered soil.

Last point, no, I can't produce enough from my own compost bins to sustain my needs.  :(

Linda, now totally confused............

[Ninnyscrops.]

[PurpleHeather]

I was also looking at the peat situation and since it was being burnt as free fuel for years, it seems that using it for the land is a far better use considering how long it takes to form.

It also struck me as amusing when I heard people were throwing last years away thinking that it must have gone off.

I believe that there are a lot of these so called green things, like a lot of recycling which are not actually economically green. Not financial cost, but it takes more unwanted emissions gathering and re-processing than making from new. Much can not even be used at all and still has to go to land fill after processing.

It is to make us all think we are doing something and stop us moaning that no action is being taken.

Much of the compost in shops at the moment is not properly composted at all, in my view, there is far too much wood in it for one thing. Goodness only knows what the door to door collected green waste actually contains. Who checks it? Bins are just emptied into the wagons around here. It could have anything in it. Not every one cares, so long as their rubbish has gone.

[tim]

And what if a chap has used weed killer on his lawn??

[1066]

Then the penny dropped.

Added to this is the fact that coir, which is incorporated into many peat free products, has been shipped half way round the world and taken from countries where the local farmers use this as a growing medium.

The coir thing was new to me, and as you say shipped half way round the world .... its just so VERY complicated, and no simple answers