'It can be done': peat-free garden to feature at Hampton Court flower show

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https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/apr/30/peat-free-garden-hampton-court-flower-show-arit-anderson

‘It can be done’: peat-free garden to feature at Hampton Court flower show

Gardeners’ World presenter Arit Anderson creating colourful display to encourage gardeners to move away from peat

Helena Horton, Environment reporter
Tue 30 Apr 2024 09.29 EDT

A completely peat-free garden will be showcased at the Hampton Court Palace flower show so the public can “have a chat about peat-free gardening” and learn how to do it themselves.

Peat-free compost has been a divisive topic in the gardening world, with some gardeners arguing that it is not as good as the peaty stuff for growing plants.

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Bogs are one of the most critical carbon sinks in the UK, and often have extremely biodiverse and fragile habitats. Wildlife and environmental groups have made banning peat a critical demand in the past few years and the UK government announced a ban on peat for gardeners in 2022, which was supposed to be enacted this year. But this ban has now been delayed until 2030 at the earliest, and the relevant legislation to make it happen has still not gone through parliament.

The ban has faced opposition from parts of the farming and horticulture industries, with the Horticulture Trade Association saying when it was announced: “Due to the current lack of quality alternative materials to peat, an immediate ban on peat could impact significantly on the availability of growing media. This would mean that the UK’s 30 million gardeners would be faced with products which have not gone through a lengthy enough quality assurance process, and which would have higher costs.”

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[Siwsan]

1. A flower show at Hampton Court Palace is my idea of heaven

I've been there several times. One time I went by boat, down the Thames River. The Anne Boleyn Gate features a clock that was made for Henry VIII in 1540.

Pardon me - I get carried away. The gardens are, IMHO, spectacular.

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2. Wow. *That's* a garden.

I need to find another name for my little plot. There's no way it should share the same name as that masterpiece.

Thanks for sharing your experience and for the pic.

[Siwsan]

3. This is the palace that is said to be haunted by Catherine Howard, Henry VIII's 5th wife.

He found out she had been cheating on him and then SHE found out that HE found out and she knew what that meant. It's said she ran, screaming, down a gallery hallway to try and persuade him to not order her execution. She was stopped before she could reach him. Supposedly her screams can still be heard.

Catherine was a cousin of Anne Boleyn, his 2nd wife who he also had executed. Catherine was guilty of adultery. It's now believed that Anne was not.

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4. The things I learn here. Thanks. nt

[NutmegYankee]

5. I'm not sure I'd stay sane without Canadian peat products.

I already use a coir seed starting medium, but my raised beds are built around Pro-mix and similar.

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6. I mostly use ProMix in my containers.

In my raised beds, I use something like Mel's mix, which calls for 1 part in 3 of either peat moss or coir. I didn't notice any difference when I switched to coir for the last couple of beds.

Mel's mix:
https://squarefootgardening.org/mels-mix-resources/