Peat-free advice for gardeners

Peatlands are hugely important as carbon stores. They reduce flood risk, and are home to diverse wildlife. Peatlands store over twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests combined, so keeping peat in bogs and not in compost bags is vital in fighting climate change. We can all play our part by going peat-free in our gardens.

Peat-free news

Nursery trials reveal peat-free doesn’t need more water

Discover results from RHS irrigation trials

Peat-free petition goes to Downing Street

Call for legislation to ban UK sale of peat

Sign our peat-free petition to call on Government

Will you help end the devastation of peatlands?

Nursery trials reveal peat-free doesn’t need more water

Discover results from RHS irrigation trials

Peat-free petition goes to Downing Street

Call for legislation to ban UK sale of peat

Sign our peat-free petition to call on Government

Will you help end the devastation of peatlands?

prev
next

How gardeners can help

  1. Buy peat-free compost. Check wording: if the bag doesn’t specifically say ‘peat-free’, it likely isn’t
  2. Buy peat-free plants, using our nursery list. Ask retailers for peat-free plants – showing there is demand incentivises production of peat-free plants
  3. Make your own compost or leaf mould for soil improvers that add organic matter. If not possible, put your garden waste out for council collection
  4. Don’t spread bagged potting compost on beds – this is ineffective and wastes resources. If you can’t make your own, opt for dedicated soil improvers made of composted green waste or manure
  5. Spread the word – share your knowledge with friends and family

A healthy peat bog stores carbon and is vital habitat for wildlife

10 top tips for peat-free growing

Everything you need to know

Bogs not bags

Keeping peat in bogs – and not in bags – is crucial for nature and climate. With a wide range of high-quality peat-free composts now available, here’s why we need to leave peat in the ground.

  • A hectare of healthy peat just 30cm deep stores more carbon than a hectare of rainforest, including all its plants and soils. Peat bogs are often much more than 30cm deep.
  • Peatlands store over twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests combined, despite covering a land area ten times smaller. In fact, peat bogs store twice as much carbon as all the vegetation on the planet put together. This makes them the most efficient carbon sink on land.
  • It takes 100 years to form just 10cm of peat in a peat bog. Extractors can take up to 22 metres of depth at once (=22,000 years to form).

  • Unlike in trees, where carbon is cycled relatively quickly, healthy peat bogs can store carbon for thousands of years.
  • Peat bogs act like a sponge, absorbing intense rainfall and releasing it in a regulated way to reduce flooding.
  • The UK is one of the world’s top 10 countries in terms of peatland area, with nearly 5 million acres.
  • As the habitat is lost, so are the rare species that depend on it.
  • At least 80% of our peatlands have been damaged. We have to protect what remains.

Why is stored carbon so important?

When carbon is stored in peat bogs as compounds that remain stable for thousands of years, it is ‘locked up’ long-term and not contributing to climate change. When these compounds are exposed to air or burned, such as through draining and harvesting peat bogs, the carbon forms carbon dioxide; a greenhouse gas that escapes into the atmosphere and contributes to global warming.

What the RHS is doing

RHS Gardens have been ‘no new peat’ since 1 July 2025 and the RHS has been ‘no new peat’ across all operations from 1 January 2026, including RHS Shows, Gardens and Retail. We stopped selling peat-based compost in 2019, and our retail outlets now stock the UK’s biggest range of ‘no new peat’ plants. This means plants that have been grown entirely peat-free, or older plants containing peat that was already in the production cycle before the end of 2025.

The largest peat-free research project globally, the RHS Transition to Peat-Free fellowship is developing solutions to help the horticultural industry sustainably transition away from peat. This collaborative project brings together government, growers and growing media manufacturers to research sustainable alternatives to peat in large-scale commercial settings. Led by dedicated research fellows Dr Raghavendra Prasad from 2022-2025 and Dr Yusra Zireeni from 2026, the project includes events and resources for professional growers.


More on the RHS Transition to Peat-Free project

RHS peat policy

Peatlands are the world’s largest terrestrial carbon store and provide valuable ecosystems for wildlife. We share the concerns about the damage peat extraction does to our natural environment and will continue to push for the end of peat use in horticulture, including through our peat-free petition calling on Government to introduce legislation banning the sale of horticultural peat in the UK.

RHS peat policy

Get involved

The RHS is the UK’s gardening charity, helping people and plants to grow - nurturing a healthier, happier world, one person and one plant at a time.