Well peat free compost with added peat doesn't quite have the same ring to it.
I bought some last year and from what it looked and felt like, I suspect it means "with a bit of loam but not enough to actually describe it as John Innes compost".
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
Does the "with added John Innes" thing irritate anyone else, or is it just me? John Innes isn't an ingredient that can be "added", it's a recipe or formula. Unless there's some poor soul of that name who's been composted.......
YES! Absolutely stupid.
"What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour".
I didn't realise JI had peat in it. TBH I find my own blend of soil, MPC and a bit of grit/sharp sand works just as well as JI3, with a few slow release granules if needed.
I found John Innes no. 1 totally useless for seeds, far too heavy.
"What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour".
I've gardened in Perth, Western Australia. My understanding of soils between Busselton, south of Perth, up to Geraldton, north of Perth, is that they are all sand. No soil, no compost, and I'm confident no Peat.
I've gardened in Canberra, ACT. Clay soils, with no fibre. Cold, arid climate. 600mm annual rainfall and -5C temperatures. No sign of peat.
I am keen for UK gardeners to go peat-free, too. I've watched your items about UK peat and its use by horticulture, and I am concerned that the UK industry isn't trying hard enough to go peat-free.
The basis for my claim is that Richgro, a composting company in Perth, Western Australia, can deliver wonderful horticultural soils and composts throughout Australia at very low prices. Gardening Australia covered their production, too. EG $3.95 for the same size bag that Osmocote sells for $9.29.
Most of Richgro's price advantage comes from its use of household waste in its "digester". I suspect it gets all the waste for zero cost. As almost every city in UK has a much higher population than Perth, I believe the UK producers could make much more profit from waste than from peat.
Please could you show this information to your gardeners and to the UK compost producers.
That's all very well @Richard9935vONx.......and you and your companies are to be applauded for your Peat Free composts.
However, as Australia has no peat and presumably isn't intending to import it, it's not really a question of choice is it ? You make do with what you have and there is little point in posting Australia's peat free composts on a UK site. Unless of course importing such medium is to be included in the Trade Deal we are hearing so much about at present? Hopefully neither your govt. or ours will be thinking along these lines.
Here in the UK, peat has long been used for power generation, as a domestic heat source and, of course, for plant production and general gardening.
It has become an issue here and rightly so but every corner of the world makes use of it's natural resources - unfortunately to the detriment of nature and the environment. I don't think either the UK or Australia can truthfully claim otherwise.
We certainly need to think about this issue - it's one of many we all need to deal with before long
Most of Richgro's price advantage comes from its use of household waste in its "digester". I suspect it gets all the waste for zero cost. As almost every city in UK has a much higher population than Perth, I believe the UK producers could make much more profit from waste than from peat.
The UK has been slow to switch and could have invested in this technology years ago, but didn't. There is now pressure from clear devastation of land sites and the realisation of just how much carbon peat stores - our equivalent of the world's rainforests. So now the race is on do what many people have been asking for decades.
Some people hate and distrust change. They dismiss env concerns as liberal fads and middle class hang wringing. Where they admit need for change, they are more interested in bck passing and finger pointing. There are strongly invested lobbies pushing against env changes, which slows everything up further.
"We like it the way it used to be, so you can all bog off and leave us alone", is the general sentiment in the UK, perhaps about most things, certainly about gardening. Perhaps most of the species feels this way about most things.
I don't know that the British are indifferent to these concerns. But the message is very unclear: is it really better to move coir so many miles? How does its production impact the people, economy and environment from which it comes? Furthermore, it is always difficult to ask people to pay more for an inferior product. If you buy it and your plants fail, you can hardly be expected to buy it again. We need government intervention but we have a hands off, laissez-faire government so we cannot expect much progress.
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I bought some last year and from what it looked and felt like, I suspect it means "with a bit of loam but not enough to actually describe it as John Innes compost".
I found John Innes no. 1 totally useless for seeds, far too heavy.
However, as Australia has no peat and presumably isn't intending to import it, it's not really a question of choice is it ? You make do with what you have and there is little point in posting Australia's peat free composts on a UK site. Unless of course importing such medium is to be included in the Trade Deal we are hearing so much about at present? Hopefully neither your govt. or ours will be thinking along these lines.
Here in the UK, peat has long been used for power generation, as a domestic heat source and, of course, for plant production and general gardening.
It has become an issue here and rightly so but every corner of the world makes use of it's natural resources - unfortunately to the detriment of nature and the environment. I don't think either the UK or Australia can truthfully claim otherwise.
We certainly need to think about this issue - it's one of many we all need to deal with before long
We need government intervention but we have a hands off, laissez-faire government so we cannot expect much progress.