small contributions... July 2023

"only peat-free potting soil"

Now don't we all simply love home-gardening, whether it being on the terrace or the balcony, and gaze in awe when Mother Nature transforms our seed work into small sapling at first, and thereafter into full-grown plants of all kinds, blooming or 'green only', decoration or edible? Apart from the elusive 'green thumb', which some of us folks seem to have more than others, it only takes water, fertilizer and last not least: soil or substrate respectively. The potting soils commonly available in retail do contain certain amounts of peat, as it can absorb and discharge large quantities of water very quickly. What's more, peat is low in nutrients and can hence easily be conditioned towards the specific demand at hand.

HOWEVER: As opposed to the realm of man, in nature it takes enormous periods of time to build peat. We have to consider that in peatlands, in the course of 100 years ( i.e. during 4 human generations ), the layer of natural peat grows only by a meagre 10 centimeters. 10 centimeters! In the ever accelerating climate change, peatlands are an important component in the fight against global warming, owing to their capabilities of storing CO₂. The world over, for years already endeavours are undertaken to re-wet dry peatlands. All the above considered, we opine that exploiting peat for substrate production is rather counter-productive and not sustainable.