Peat Ban in '24? It's Not on the Govt's New Year's Resolutions List!

When Big Ben strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, it should herald the dawn of a year in which peat-based compost is consigned to history, changing gardening forever.

Yet, despite the government pledging to phase out peat from retail horticulture by the end of 2024, plans for a ban within 12 months appear to have fallen by the wayside.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) will now only say that the government “remains committed to legislating for a ban on the sale of peat as soon as parliamentary time allows” – with no timeframe stated for peat’s withdrawal at garden centres.

While the move will bring little festive cheer to those who oppose peat-based compost on environmental grounds, it will offer respite to some traditional gardeners who believe that peat composts remain essential for growing quality plants.

That said, tracking down peat-based compost can now be as tricky as finding a needle in a haystack, because suppliers have spent years reformulating ranges to go peat-free in readiness for a peat ban in 2024.

Peat-reduced composts that remain on sale (often found at some small, independent garden centres rather than big chains) are usually heavily diluted with alternative ingredients such as wood fibre and bark, appearing different to the peat-rich formulations of yesteryear.

End of a peaty era

In November, Evergreen Garden Care, the company behind the famous Miracle-Gro brand, announced that the last bag of peat compost had rolled of its manufacturing lines.

The company told industry website Gardenforum: “We are proud and determined to be taking this step towards going 100 per cent peat-free as this is the right decision – both for our industry and the planet.”

Trade magazine Horticulture Week recently reported that major UK retailers including Dobbies Garden Centres, B&Q and Notcutts are already 100 per cent peat-free across their bagged compost ranges – while major UK chain British Garden Centres plans to be peat-free by the end of 2023.

Blue Diamond Garden Centres told the magazine that the majority of its sales are “peat-free already” while the retail chain will be “completely peat-free by 2025”. Hillier Garden Centres said that out of its 49 growing media lines, only one containing peat remains and will be “phased out before the summer of 2024”.

If proof was needed of the shift towards peat-free compost, figures from the Growing Media Association show that only 17 per cent of retail growing media was made from peat in 2022 – the latest figures currently available.

Growers given time to go peat-free


Gardeners will be able to buy plants grown in peat-based compost for many years to come, Garden Help can reveal.

Asked when UK commercial growers would be forced to stop using peat, a DEFRA spokeswoman said: “In the professional sector, our proposals include restrictions on the sale of peat from 2026 with technical exemptions, with a full ban from 2030.

“After 2030, we propose to operate a conservation exemption for rare plants of conservation value, which cannot be grown without peat.”

However, many innovative UK nurseries are ahead of the game when it comes to going peat-free. The Royal Horticultural Society surveyed hundreds of UK growers to find out how they were progressing in the move away from peat.

It found that many were “only using peat for more difficult areas to transition to, such as very young plug plants, which are often brought in from Europe, and ericaceous plants”.

The RHS found that almost a third of 427 respondents were growing peat-free across all plant ranges (with the exception of young or plug plants) while a further 17% of respondents are now verified as being 100 per cent peat-free across all operations. Almost 100 growers were found to be at least 80 per cent peat-free.

Gardeners who are keen to buy only peat-free plants can access the RHS’s regional guide to peat-free nurseries here: rhs.org.uk/advice/peat/peat-free-nurseries.

Marc Rosenberg