Irish Peat Briquettes As Mulch?

Hahsbaha · October 2020

Hi

I have acquired approx 40kg of Irish peat briquettes, the compressed kind - solid bricks.

I don’t want to burn them so want to use them in the garden. I’m thinking of putting them in the border and hoping they degrade over winter in the rain etc. What are your thoughts please?

I don’t think they will have chemicals in but not sure? Surely it’s better in the garden than burnt is my thinking.

thanks for any help

Liriodendron · October 2020

Hi @Hahsbaha and welcome!

My dad built a bank out of peat bricks in his garden around 1960. It was still there, bricks largely intact, when they sold the house in 1978... but these weren't compressed peat, which I understand is manufactured by compacting loose peat under pressure (but without adding chemicals, according to the Bord na Mona website). I'd imagine those might degrade more quickly, being made initially of "loose" peat, but perhaps you could experiment with one by soaking it in water for a few days to see what happens?

Much better in the garden than burnt. Do you know what sort of soil you have? Peat is very useful if you're growing plants which prefer acid soil, like rhododendrons or blueberries, so you might want to be selective about where you put it.

Pardon my curiosity... but when we were house hunting we looked at a house here in county Clare which came with a shed stuffed full of "turf" (ie peat). Did you acquire your peat with a house?

nick615 · October 2020

Back in the day, to avoid indoctrination of children in British schooling, the Irish had a system of 'hedge schools' that used blocks of solid peat for the children to sit on. I presume they'd have been pretty durable to cope with fidgeting kids. However, the blocks you mention are machine compressed and will break quite easily into 'slices' in my experience which may help them degrade more quickly.

Irish Peat Briquettes As Mulch?

Posts