A vital role to play
The RHS has a role to play in demonstrating how excellent horticultural standards can be achieved without the use of peat (peat accounts for less than 0.7% of all our growing media and soil conditioner use).
We are reducing our consumption of peat and are encouraging others (amateur and professional gardeners and the nursery trade) to do the same by sharing our knowledge and experience of peat-free horticulture with the widest possible audience (we have 360,000 members, each year we have over a million visitors to our gardens and over 400,000 visitors to our shows, 700,000 people visit our website each month).
The RHS is also a key member of the Growing Media Initiative which brings retailers, manufacturers, government, NGOs, growers and conservationists together to find ways actively to encourage peat-reduction practices.
In RHS gardens
Peat is never used as a soil improver or mulch in our gardens. Each year we use more than 2,000m3 of composted green waste, manure and composted bark as soil conditioners and mulches.
In 2010 the RHS used less than 7m3 of peat in its four gardens, whilst using more than 200m3 of peat-free growing media. The peat used was for propagation and specialist plant collections. The RHS has made significant reductions in our use of peat, in 2001 we used 131m3 of peat as growing media.
Our garden and scientific staff are actively working to find suitable peat-free growing media for this purpose. We regularly conduct public displays and demonstrations promoting the use of low-peat and peat-free products, these take place in our gardens and at our shows.
RHS plant centres stock alternative growing media that are clearly identifiable and offered at a competitive price.
Our science and advice
The RHS provides up–to-date evidence based information and advice to gardeners on the use of alternative growing media, online, within our publications and through our advisory service.
The RHS science team conducts research into peat-free growing media alternatives. We focus this research on where we believe we can add most value to the research being conducted by others, particularly through exploring developmental mixes and tackling specific growing issues.
At RHS shows
We encourage exhibitors at our Shows to minimise their use of peat, in particular peat is not permitted to be used for staging.
Each year we survey exhibitors contributing to our shows to monitor their use of peat-free and peat-reduced growing media.