Say No to Peat Compost

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.

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:

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.