I’ll now not be drawn into the false narrative on peat free vs peat compost comparisons.
Over the past eight years I’ve been utilizing peat free compost in more and more massive portions annually to develop each sort of vegetable and the vast majority of decorative crops obtainable to gardeners, together with numerous acid loving crops in ericaceous peat free compost. Though I develop for myself and a small variety of shopper gardens, I develop the equal variety of crops to a small impartial nursery.
All through that point I’ve documented what I’ve grown and the compost manufacturers I’ve used brazenly on my web site, within the nationwide press, in gardening magazines and on social media and I’ve by no means had an issue with any peat free composts I’ve used. All the things grows as anticipated and precisely the identical in each compost I’ve tried. I even performed a peat vs peat free comparability trial on numerous totally different crops final 12 months to show peat free can develop in addition to peat, which was as anticipated, a hit for me.
But individuals nonetheless say to me: “peat free is garbage”, “peat free isn’t nearly as good as peat”, “peat free is variable” “peat free dries out too rapidly”, “my seeds didn’t germinate”, “I should have a nasty batch”, “my peat free should have aminopyralid weedkiller in it”, “it doesn’t have sufficient vitamins”.
Why is it that everybody else has issues with their compost that I can not replicate?
Properly, it’s to not say I haven’t had issues rising issues. Gardening is stuffed with issues with crops and set backs. That’s what occurs when coping with dwelling issues. Irrespective of what number of years expertise or how good you might be at rising, sure issues are out of your management.
When did compost develop into the scapegoat of all gardening issues?
When rising crops, many issues are inside our management that we additionally get improper. There are a lot of issues we will get improper, from watering to feeding, temperature, timing, dangerous seeds, outdated seeds, incorrect sowing depths, mild ranges and lots of extra. I get lots improper.
As a lot as individuals gained’t need to hear this, within the transition to peat free composts, individuals are making the compost the scapegoat for all issues when truly it may and almost definitely is one thing else. And I believe that is fuelled by these with a stake in peat compost gross sales.
When individuals contact me about their crops rising in peat free compost it has all the time been issues with one or two of the next: underneath or over watering, lack of vitamins, temperature, time of sowing, high quality or viability of seed.
For this reason I’m not experiencing the identical issues as different individuals. I’m a skilled and skilled horticulturist with 35 years of rising expertise in our backyard and professionally in recent times in different individuals’s, with RHS coaching from a botanic backyard to RHS Stage 3. I’m pretty good now at figuring out and fixing plant issues.
I may develop crops in sand and coir with no vitamins within the media by any means, as an alternative added by fertilisers within the water, to some extent. Aquaponics develop crops like tomatoes in nothing however water and nutrient.
Positive, some peat free compost manufacturers are higher than others in the identical manner peat composts have all the time had the nice and dangerous manufacturers. Positive, you would possibly get a nasty batch, I obtained a few baggage this 12 months of outdated compost with noticeably much less vitamins in them. Positive, peat free compost typically retains extra moisture making early sowings of seedlings extra susceptible to chilly. So what?
I’ve proven that I’ve been able to attempting out totally different manufacturers to search out these I belief. I’ve proven that even with a batch of compost with decrease nutrient ranges I’ve been capable of adapt and alter the fertilising accordingly. I’ve proven that I’ve been capable of spot temperature hampering progress and transferring crops to hotter spots to account for it.
My level is, that is gardening. You are able to do it too. I could also be skilled however I learnt this by means of trial and error and it made me a greater gardener. All composts are natural matter, they are going to be variable as soil is variable. The manufacturers of peat free I exploit often are constant. Some organisations will little question run peat free comparability trials, which is nice for shoppers however for me this dialogue is now a waste of my time. Nurseries will want extra rigorous checks to assist their bigger operations.
The comparability of peat vs peat free for shoppers is, for my part, now a non difficulty pushed by firms that promote peat or the spokespeople carefully tied to them. I’ve been capable of simply discover inexpensive peat free compost that works for me – and that features throughout our years in inside London.
And that’s why I’m completed humouring the peat vs peat free compost dialogue, it’s time to maneuver on.
