Say No to Peat Compost

wildflower pots and a windowsill garden

Wildflower pots and a windowsill garden
© Katy Ferguson

Say No to Peat Compost

Bring on the ban!

For centuries it was believed that peatlands were of no value unless drained or extracted from. Today, we know this is not true – so why are 80% of the UK’s peatlands still degraded? Peat extraction for gardening and growing directly contributes to the decline of peatlands, with knock-on impacts for the interlinked nature and climate crises.

Progress on this issue is long overdue. Cumbria Wildlife Trust welcomes confirmation that from the end of 2024, hobby gardeners in England and Wales will no longer be able to buy bagged peat compost. Your support has helped to make this happen!

However, we are disappointed to have recently learned that the UK Government will not ban all peat-based gardening products until 2030. Allowing the sale of peat-containing products to continue for another 7 years does not reflect the value of peatlands and is at odds with this Government's manifesto commitment to ‘deliver the most ambitious environmental programme of any country on earth’.

The Wildlife Trusts have been at the forefront of the fight to protect peatlands since the 1990s and are leading on peatland restoration projects across the UK. To date, Wildlife Trusts have restored over 120,000 football pitches worth of peatlands in England alone.

Does your local garden centre stock peat free compost?

We've created a list of all the brilliant garden centres in Cumbria which stock peat free compost. This will help us to spread the word on the best places to buy it and hopefully get more people to purchase it in the future. Here's our list:

Abbi and Toms Garden Plants - Halecat & Grange

Witherslack & Grange over Sands

Dalefoot Composts & Melcourts. All own grown plants in peat-free.

Beetham Nurseries

Milnthorpe

Westland, SylvaGrow & Mircale Grow. All own grown plants in peat-free.

Brooke Supplies & Garden Centre

Flookburgh

John Innes Peat Free multi-purpose compost

Brampton Wood Fuels

Brampton

Dalefoot Composts

Ellie's Hill foot Garden Centre

Ulverston

Miracle Grow

Poltross Enterprises

Haltwhistle

 

Hayes Garden World

Ambleside 

Dalefoot Composts, Westlands New Horizon and Sylva Grow

Mad Hatters Hardware

Alston

Dalefoot Composts

Oakhurst garden centre

Cockermouth

Dalefoot Composts & Westlands New Horizon

Pigney

Appleby-in-Westmorland

Ewe grow, Westlands New Horizon

The Pot Place

Plumpton

Dalefoot Composts, Westlands New Horizon and Ewe Grow

Whitehaven Garden Centre

Whitehaven

Dalefoot Composts and Sylva Grow

Woodlands 

Milnthorpe 

Bathgate, Miracle Gro, Dalefoot Composts, Ewegrow and Levington

 

Peat Free Plant Nurseries

We also want to see a complete ban of peat use in plant nurseries, sooner rather than later. Nic Wilson has been creating a list of peat free nurseries nation-wide and you can see her list of nurseries here . You can contact Nic directly via her website to get any Cumbrian peat free nurseries added to the list.

Bags of Dalefoot Composts

Dalefoot Composts

Dalefoot Composts make peat free composts here in the Lake District. Choose between their Lakeland Gold or Wool Compost. You can buy direct from their website.

Buy from Dalefoot Composts
Peat free illustration

How to go peat free at home

Read our tips
Image of peatland restoration at Bampton Common © Jane Wilson

Peatland restoration at Bampton Common © Jane Wilson

What are peatlands?

Find out about peatlands and what we're doing to restore them

Find out more
image of pink wellington boots and spades gardening - copyright tom marshall

© Tom Marshall

Join the gardeners going peat-free

Make the pledge