Whypeat-free, why now, why Bathgate?

Don’t wait for the 2024 deadline to phase out peat-based products in your garden centre. Commit to peat free now and the planet and your customers will thank you for it.

Peat, forsolongthe gardener’s friend, has become horticulture’s public enemy number one in the fight to halt climatechange. Peat bogs are such an important carbon store, holding morethan all other vegetation types in the world combined. When peat is removedand processed it releases ahuge volume of carbon dioxide intothe atmosphere, contributing to thegreenhouseeffect. When it remains undisturbed, the carbon created from plants that grow and decompose on the peat bogs is stored indefinitely.So, it’s easy to see why we need to change our horticulturehabits.

No newcomer to peat-free composts, Bathgatehavespent the last 10 years developing their products and trialling different mixes of ingredients to find the perfect blend. Their first peat free wasintroduced in 2013 with the flagshipChampions Blendlaunched to high acclaim in spring 2018.Throughout this time, extensivetrials were run with many nurseries, hobbygrowers and bloggers responding to their feedback to attain great results.

“Weare currentlydeveloping moreofour peatfree range with apriority that our products will provide the results gardeners areused to getting with peat. Our focus is to provide the best quality and value at keyprice-points, ensuring retailers will always havehappycustomers returning for more,” says Colin Sanders, BathgateCommercial Director In fact, many users havefound their products exceed peat in theirperformance. Commercial growerMichael, from Holland Horticulture, trialled their composts last year with great success.“Having used Bathgateand Champions Blend Peat-Free Composts in my greenhouse, I can confidentlysay the resultswerespectacular The quality of my fruit and vegetables was some of the best I’ve growntodate. Ialso feel much better in myself for using moresustainable products and minimising my impact on the environment,”heenthused.

It’snolongeraholy grail to findapeatfree compost that delivers great results, but Bathgatesays it has been alongcrusadetofind that perfect blend. BBC Radio 2’sallotment guru TerryWalton, has been on the journey with them. “I havesearched long and hardto find apeat-free compost that wouldchallenge the results Ihad with apeat-based blend. When Iused Champion Blend Peat-Free Compost, I wasfinally gettingthe resultsI always had with germination and early plant growth. Ican now go entirely peat free and still havethe best results on my allotment,”hesays.

Is therea downside? Well, this eco-friendly option comes at aprice.The rawingredients andproduction costs aresignificantlyhigher for peat free than peat and youdefinitely get what youpay for.Cheaper peat-free composts will havehad to compromise somewhereand are farmorelikely to endinpoor resultsand unhappygardeners. The government ban however, does mean consumers will haveto pay moreaspeat alternatives won’tbeavailable Thankfully the very natureofthe gardening demographic suggests consumers will be open to tradeupfor the sakeofthe environment. So,it’stime to dig alittle deeper and find out moreabout whyBathgateproducts are sustainable, effectiveand provide agreat value solution to retailers, nurseries andconsumers

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