Garden peat: Use peat in the garden and vegetable patch

Peat has lost its spotless reputation as the perfect garden soil. Today, the classic substrate is criticized for being environmentally harmful and destructive. In the ecologically managed garden and vegetable patch, home gardeners are questioning the use of peat with growing skepticism. This guide will familiarize you with all the important pros and cons so that you can make an informed decision about your private green kingdom.

What is peat?

Exact knowledge of the origin and composition paves the way for a mature judgment as to whether or not peat should be used as a substrate in the garden. Most hobby gardeners are not aware that they are holding a valuable piece of moor in their hands with a sack of garden peat or potting soil. Peat is the stuff our scenic moorlands are made of.

Bogs are constantly wet habitats where low, undemanding plants thrive. Constant excess water ensures a low-oxygen soil and blocks the complete decomposition of dead plants. While plant residues turn into humus in soil with alternating humidity, they are deposited as peat in the moor. Layer by layer, the peat in raised bogs grows above the groundwater level at a leisurely rate of 1 mm to a maximum of 10 mm per year. The well-known Teufelsmoor near Worpswede, for example, took 8,000 years to develop into its current splendor. In contrast, fens form in river valleys and depressions or are the result of silting up on lake surfaces. Peat grows less strongly here and is overgrown with more species than in raised bogs.

The world's largest moor areas stretch across the taiga belt along the northern hemisphere. Russia, Alaska and Canada also have huge bogs. In Germany there are well-known moor landscapes in the north and in the foothills of the Alps. Not only does precipitation fall in abundance in these regions. In addition, there is high humidity there, which is a key factor in the formation of the unique high and low moors.

What does peat do as a culture substrate? - Advantages and disadvantages

Traditionally, peat is still used today as a fuel in a wide variety of areas, because compacted, dried peat soil has a similar calorific value as lignite. The spectrum ranges from power generation and whiskey distillation to heating greenhouses. Since the beginning of the 20th At the end of the 19th century, commercial and private gardeners became interested in peat as a growing medium. The following properties catapulted peat to the top of the most popular potting soils:

• Stores many times its own weight in water
• Lowers the pH in the soil
• Loosens compacted soil and optimizes permeability

The positive characteristics make peat indispensable for commercial nurseries and nurseries Cultivation of rhododendrons, azaleas, hydrangeas and other plants on acidic soil are dependent. However, when promoting garden peat for private ornamental and kitchen gardens, the trade ignored important negative effects of the substrate:

• Once dried out, the water storage capacity is lost
• Poor rewettability results in increasing soil compaction
• Acidification of the soil with simultaneous release of heavy metals
• Minimal nutrient content requires additional application of artificial fertilizer

Garden peat is only recommended if you limit yourself to growing plants in the garden and vegetable patch that prefer acidic soil with a pH of 4 to 5. The vast majority of woody, perennial and vegetable plants thrive in neutral to slightly alkaline soil with a balanced pH of 6 to 7. If peat comes into play here, diseases and stunted growth are inevitable.

Not using peat protects the climate and nature

The garden and vegetable patch only benefit from peat in exceptional cases. The negative effects do not only predominate in the context of the cultivation of ornamental and useful plants. Excessive peat extraction has irretrievably destroyed huge moorland landscapes around the world and on our doorstep. In this context, valuable habitat was lost for rare animals and plants.

An often underestimated consequence of the rigorous extraction of peat is the release of carbon dioxide. The numbers are alarming. In Germany alone, destroyed peat soils release more than 40 million tons of greenhouse gases every year. This value is on par with the CO2 emissions of all German aviation. The conscious avoidance of peat and peat-containing potting soil in the home garden makes a valuable contribution to the preservation of unique moor landscapes and the reduction of emissions.

Useful alternatives for the garden and vegetable patch

The renunciation of the use of garden peat is not associated with any restrictions in plant care in the home garden. On the contrary, there is a colorful array of environmentally friendly alternatives that do not require a crumb of peat. Incidentally, gardening without peat is not a modern invention, but a return to a traditional and well-established practice. Proven options for your garden and vegetable patch are discussed in more detail below:

compost

In an ecologically managed garden, the compost heap is part of the basic equipment. Vegetable waste from the garden and kitchen is converted into a valuable natural fertilizer with substrate quality as part of a rotting process lasting several months at temperatures of up to 70 degrees. Hard-working soil organisms make an important contribution to the formation of humus. Additions of fall leaves, wood cuttings and rock flour promote the decomposition process. The result is a hygienically perfect peat substitute with good rewettability, a high nutrient content and a proven protective effect against pathogens. Heavy feeders in the vegetable patch, like all types of cabbage, thrive when cultivated with pure compost. Less demanding ornamental plants prefer a mixture of one-third each of compost, bark humus and wood fibers. Mineral additives such as sand, expanded clay or grit are recommended for use as a bucket substrate. There is no place for peat in this balanced interaction of environmentally friendly components.

bark humus

Crushed softwood bark is composted into bark humus and results in a popular peat substitute. As one of the most densely forested countries in Europe, tree bark is also available in Germany as an almost inexhaustible source for a continuous supply as an alternative to peat. Growth-inhibiting substances in fresh coniferous bark, such as resin, tannin or tannins, are almost completely broken down over the course of several years of fermentation. Bark compost has a reliable structural stability and has a stable pH value. Furthermore, the rewettability is better than with garden peat. In commercially available, peat-free soil, the proportion of bark humus is up to 50 percent. The rising price is a disadvantage. As a renewable raw material, tree bark is becoming increasingly important for energy production, which is driving up prices. For this reason, southern countries have already started to prefer pine bark as a substitute for peat-free substrates.

wood fibers

Chemically untreated wood provides the starting material for a high-quality peat substitute. Sawmill residues, such as shavings or wood chips, are processed using a thermo-mechanical process, which optimizes their properties and makes them a perfect substrate. Wood fibers score with a high air capacity, first-class drainage effect and good rewettability. The low nutrient and salt content, low bulk density and reliable freedom from weeds are also advantageous. If you mix in garden soil or compost with up to 50 percent wood fibers, waterlogging doesn't stand a chance. Substrate with wood fibers dries more quickly on the surface, so that moss and flying weed seeds have no basis for germination and growth.

peat moss

Research and development in the cultivation of peat moss as a peat substitute is still in its infancy. However, the first results in 2016 are promising. Peat mosses of the genus Sphagnum are cultivated on peated, rewetted raised bog areas in order to to gain a biomass as a raw material for the production of growing media for the garden, balcony and windowsill. Pilot projects have shown that ornamental and useful plants thrive in soil with an 80 percent peat moss content.

Great efforts are being made not only in Germany, but also in Europe and worldwide to produce a full-fledged and socially recognized peat substitute with peat moss. Time is pressing, because the peat extraction areas are declining sharply. As a result of the social ostracism, the countries find it difficult to issue new permits, which would result in more moors being destroyed. In the state of Lower Saxony alone, the forecasts assume that the mining areas will increase by almost Halve 12,000 hectares in 2012 to 6,000 hectares in 2022 and to under 1,000 hectares by 2037 to reduce.

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