Peat Moss Sucks
Where have all the bogs gone?
They're sitting in the garden sheds, bagged, bound and useless.
Did You Know?
Prior to the 1960s, gardeners depended on soil conditioners from a whole range of sources other than peat. Aggressive marketing convinced the gardening and landscaping world that peat was a necessity for successful horticulture.
Peat moss is devoid of nutrients. Peat moss is difficult to work into soil. Peat moss can cause pest problems. Peat moss can cause pH problems.
Peat moss is not the gardeners prayers answered. In fact, peat moss sucks. It's too bad there is an entire growing industry based on the peat moss model. We use synthetic chemical fertilizers BECAUSE of the peat moss model.
Most importantly, Peat Bogs are not a renewable resource.
To their credit, the Canadian Peat Moss Association has lots of information on bog lands, restoration, and how there's more than enough peat to go around. All their talk of buffer zones and sustainability washes with some. I invite you to be the judge.
What is Peat Moss Really?
Peat is composed of dead plant remains that have been preserved in the wet acidic conditions that prevent rapid decay. This takes millenia to accomplish. Peat is not a renewable resource. Upon this damp foundation is laid the fragile ecosystem of the peatland.
Alternatives = MANY
Any bulky organic material can be used to improve the organic content of soil. Compost and leafmould are among the best materials for enriching soil. Bark products, coconut fibre and manure, available from garden centres, can also be used.
If you presently use peat moss as a mulch, you are better off with bark, straw or cocoa shells. Peat is a poor mulch. It dries out and blows away.
If you presently use peat moss to increase the acidity of soil, and insist on something organic, switch to any of the following.
Peat Links
Burns Bog
This is a local bog here in my hometown. On top of decades of peat extraction, excavation has now begun for a 1000 acre cranberry farm in the heart of the bog. Ocean Spray must be informed that Burns Bog is a wild place that is entirely unsuitable for agricultural development. You can tell them so here.
Wild Beauty of Bogs Tour
A very good educational game site from the Irish Peatland Conservation Council.
Okefenokee Homepage
Remember Pogo and all his loveable friends? They're from Okefenokee Swamp, and it's under serious threat. In fact, this natural peatland is one of the 10 most threatened places in
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