UK gardeners use nearly 1.4m cubic metres of peat based products

Data has been made available by Defra on the volume and composition of growing media supplied to the UK amateur and professional horticultural markets.

It shows that in 2012 amateur gardeners, via the retail trade, used nearly 1.4 million cubic metres of growing media, and other products, that used peat.

In the professional sector, which includes growers, local authorities and landscapers, again for the same year the total was just over 800,000 m3.

The information was collected by a self-completion form sent to 30 of the UK's growing media manufacturers, with 27 sent back to Defra.

The Republic of Ireland is the largest supplier of peat based products to the UK, with 1.1m cubic metres, while the UK itself produces 827,000 cubic metres and just over 250,000 cubic metres comes from northern Europe.

Information was supplied for 2012 and 2011, with data for this year expected in 2014 and for 2014 in 2015.

UK sales of peat and alternative materials in horticultural products during 2012
Volume of peat and alternatives supplied to all sectors of the UK horticultural market by sector (m3)

After 26 years at Radley College, Adam King has seen grounds management evolve dramatically. Weather patterns have become less predictable, playing surfaces are under greater pressure than ever, and flexibility has become one of the most valuable…

GroundsFest has welcomed Christina Walker to its sales team as preparations continue for the 2027 exhibition.Christina joins the award-winning team with an extensive background in publishing and exhibitions spanning more than two decades. She began…

When freezing temperatures threaten the pitches at Forest Green Rovers FC, speed is everything. Protecting the stadium and training ground with frost covers can be a race against the weather, but thanks to Kress battery-powered blowers, the club's…

Comments

steve loftus October 5, 2013 at 12:42pm

That may be so,but that only accounts for 4% of the peat market according to my rhs source .the rest goes to the power stations etc .
Landscape Juice October 5, 2013 at 1:36pm

Are you sure about that Steve, this from the RHS website.

Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) estimate that 2.96 million m3 of peat is used in the UK annually, of which 99% is used as growing media and 69% of which is used by gardeners (Defra, 2010).