Section outline

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    Welcome to the course

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    Over 95% of the UK’s peat bogs have become degraded or destroyed. This not only wipes out these rare ecosystems – wild areas which are home to a wealth of plants, birds and insects – but also rapidly increases our carbon emissions.

    This short online course takes around 30mins to complete and will explore in more detail:
    - The disastrous impacts of harvesting our natural peat landscapes.
    - How modern alternatives to peat are now plentiful and effective.
    - How to get the best out of peat-free products in your growing. 

    N.b. This course has been designed to work best on devices with larger screens, if you are using a smaller mobile device we would advise viewing the course in landscape orientation. 
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    Why we shouldn’t use peat

    Extracting peat, and destroying peatlands, has a disastrous effect on the environment. 

    Wildlife is destroyed. Carbon is released, which hastens the climate change. And, because peat bogs take over a 1000 years to renew themselves, destroying them simply isn’t sustainable. It also isn’t necessary. 

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    Using peat free compost

    Growing without peat is easier than you might think. There is excellent peat-free bagged compost now available. 

    Sometimes it’s not possible to access soil or homemade compost. If you have a small growing area, a balcony, or can only grow indoors, then you will need to buy your growing mix. But you can still go peat-free.

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    Making your own mixes

    Making your own potting compost is not difficult, and means you create just the right mix for your pots and plants. 

    No more heaving of heavy plastic bags from the garden centre. Not only are you saving money, but also the planet.

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    Next steps

      

      

    Well done! You have completed the For Peats Sake course and are now ready for successful peat free growing, and to share the ‘peat free and proud’ message with others. We believe that if gardeners are provided with the facts, they will readily swap  their peat-based compost for homemade or peat-free. Visit the For Peats Sake website today to sign up to the peat-free pledge and stay up to date with campaign news. 

    For Peat's Sake - for the planet's sake.

    We hope you enjoyed this course and have found the content useful. We would really appreciate you taking a few moments to provide us with any feedback on your experiences to enable us to continuously develop and enhance our online training provision.

    Where can I go for more support?
    If you found this online course useful, why not take a look at our other events and courses here.

    You can also stay up to date by following us on Facebook or Instagram.

    Finally, you have access to even more support by becoming a Garden Organic member and joining the thousands of people in the UK and overseas who are already leading the movement for an organic and sustainable future for us all.