LIVING THE 'GOOD LIE'?
Every year in the UK over 24 million wheelbarrows of
peat is consumed by amateur gardeners.
New research carried out by organic gardening charity, Garden
Organic, reveals that in the quest to live the 'Good Life', made
appealing by celebrity gardeners and chefs, amateur gardeners are
actually living what the charity has coined the 'Good Lie'- in
other words, in striving to be self-sufficient, gardeners
inadvertently doing more harm than good to the environment.
Of the three million cubic metres of peat used in the UK every
year, amateur gardeners are responsible for using two-thirds of it,
largely in the form of multi-purpose compost. Peat is used in
compost because it is cheap, light, retains moisture and stores
nutrients. However, in extracting peat from its natural home, its
ability to store four times as much carbon as forests is lost,
while the habitat of rare wildlife is destroyed. As a result, all
but a tiny proportion of the UK's natural peatlands have been
destroyed.
To highlight the extent of the problem, Garden Organic surveyed UK
gardeners about their gardening habits and motivations, and it
seems that the pursuit of the 'Good Life' is more popular than
ever. A surprising 68 per cent of those surveyed use their gardens
to grow vegetables, and almost 45 per cent named living the 'Good
Life' as their motivation for gardening. Attracting wildlife and
being more environmentally friendly are also important to amateur
gardeners, with a third of respondents declaring that these factors
motivate them to garden.
However, when it comes to purchasing products to achieve the Good
Life, it seems that gardeners' 'eco' motivations are quickly
forgotten. It's what's best for their pockets, not the planet,
which influences them most. Indeed, three times as many chose low
prices and special offers as the deciding factors over which
products to buy. This marked contrast is also reflected in the
products regularly bought by gardeners, with around three times as
many choosing multi-purpose peat-based composts over peat-free
alternatives.
The release of the research coincides with the launch of Garden
Organic's 'I Don't Dig Peat' campaign, which calls on UK gardeners
to make the 'Peat-Free Promise' and stop using peat products in
favour of environmentally friendly alternatives.
While it's gardeners who are the end-users, Garden Organic
believes retailers and manufacturers also have to take
responsibility for the UK's massive consumption of peat. The
charity points to limited peat-free alternatives and misleading
on-pack claims as compounding the problem, and is calling for more
to be done to improve access to peat-free products
Speaking about the research results and the launch of the
campaign, TV presenter and gardener Alys Fowler said: 'Its time for
garden owners across the UK to be put in the picture about peat and
realise that the Good Life isn't just about what's good for them.
The 'I Don't Dig Peat' campaign isn't about pointing the finger at
the gardening community. It's about informing people about the
scale of the problem and to highlight that it's perfectly possible
to have a beautiful garden without using peat products and so much
more beneficial to the environment.'
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