The gardening world can be slow to change and, as much as that can frustrate – even infuriate me at times – I love the reassuring familiarity and nostalgia. In an ever-changing, unpredictable world, it’s an anchor for traditions and our sense of identity. However, sometimes this resistance to change can lead to curious outcomes, that I would argue not only get in the way of us becoming better gardeners, but ironically even hamper our connection with our gardening heritage.
I never would have imagined when, as a teenager, I first read about the debate surrounding peat, that I would still be seeing it rage on decades later. As much as I think in gardening, as in all creative pursuits, a diversity of views is essential, it is an objective reality that the continued use of peat as a growing medium can not be defended from an environmental point of view.
I came to know peat after moving to the UK in 1999, because in Singapore – following Victorian British tradition – our horticultural growing medium was a mix of garden soil, sand and charcoal in roughly equal quantities. It…