Digwell Spills the Beans - A Peat Special Edition!

[@terrykingsallotmentgardening]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and knowledge Steve. ♻️Happy gardening, Terry King.

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

Not my thoughts, Terry. Everything mentioned was from academic sites with no affiliation to peat companies or any interest in keeping peat as a growing medium. Just pure facts.

[@nathanpickett7224]

Very informative Diggy. I'm afraid we'll never get peat back. I know not everybody can, but we all need to start making our own compost at home. We cannot buy good quality peat free compost.

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

Yes, sad but true (unless there is a U-turn when it all goes wrong in 2026 or 2030). I cannot make my own compost so I fall into the "like it or lump" it bunch 🙁 On a side note, I was chatting with my local nursery owner a few weeks ago (they use peat based Mother Earth) and he is forecasting that the price of potted plants will double from him as every part of the supply chain to him will be dearer and he will have his own growing loses to pass on.

[@sowgroweat6987]

Very good Steve and I 95% agree. The only part I suggest is wrong is when you mention woodchip letting through water more (which is true) but my home made compost made from 70% 3 year old woodchip (from my paths) and 30% Leafmold contains zero fertiliser yet the seedlings / small plants grow as good as Peat based bought compost and better than bought peat free. I tested it last year and it worked very well, and 2024's tests will start in a couple of weeks, just to try and raise more awareness to people.

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

Nice to know but I guess every compost is different. The places I researched were refering to bagged potting compost that non-composters, like me, have had thrust on us 🙂 Have a great week - and tomorrow I'm off to buy another 30 bags of peat compost to stockpile LOL

[@sowgroweat6987]

@@DigwellGreenfingersbut be careful the bags are not wet through if they store it outside. Wet Peat compost goes Anerobic and really bad, but I suspect you will know this already, keep well.

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

@@sowgroweat6987 Yes, but thanks anyway. I store mine under polythene, so it has a fighting chance LOL Another "by the way" for you - Gardening Which? did a compost article some time back and they recommended to only store peat-free green waste composts for a maximum of 3 months as they can go anerobic without getting wet. Never easy is it?

[@bewoodford2807]

This is brillaint Steve. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Love all the info you've given. i am sharing this vid with my hubster, as I am fed up with telling him about the peat argument and he doesn't listen - nothing new theer, then! I have been told by my local nursery, that uses peat has told me the ban on peat is not happening in 2024 as notified previously. Also that no other country, in the world is not banning the use of peat. I am using both composts as I hve found both useful for different purpose. Thanks for a really fab video. Happy gardening 😃

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

The 2024 ban is happening for you an me but he is exempt and can use it (not sell it) until 2026. My local one is the same - they use 100% Mother Earth. As many say, they don't really mind going peat-free as long as the new stuff is as good, Green waste ones are not, at present.

[@robertmeakings9774]

Great one Steve when my garden centre opens up again off to get some more peat compost 👍

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

Popping down again in a mo, Robert!

[@idahogardengirl942]

Thank you for doing this. I’ve shared in a post. It is easier to fool someone, than to convince them they have been fooled.

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

Exactly! Thanks IGG 🙂

[@RobinGardens]

Great points. Love the way you filmed this .....FAB!

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

Cheers Robin. It wasn't hard, I often talk to myself 🤣

[@myrubycountry2233]

Well put , we must not forget the poor guys harvesting the coconut coir with all that dust it must take a toll on there lungs and health. Well done Steve

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

I know. That's why I put the few snippets at the end. But coir usage may be a subject for another video LOL

[@adysveggarden]

Nicely put together Steve, that machine at the end looks lethal. This is a direct quote from there consultation: The greenhouse gas emissions associated with the processing and transport of alternatives are unlikely to be significantly different to those of processing and transporting peat, therefore, we have not assumed any change in emissions from these stages of production in our analysis. The alternative is travelling from India and Sri lanka.

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

Cool, but I'm sure shipping UK to UK or Ireland to UK is cheaper than Sri Lanka to UK. And don't forget, the "last mile" is the same - sea port to town.

[@PrairiePlantgirl]

I commend you for this video. I have personally done my own research on peat vs coir. I believe for myself, a Canadian gardener using Canadian peat, that peat is the best option. I would also encourage those feeling coir is a better option to look into the treatment of people “employed” to produce and ship the coir. I’ve also had lots of experience driving EV in the cold Canadian prairies, but that is a discussion for another day 😊

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

Thanks PPG. I was an arguement that the wrong side won and for the wrong reasons, sadly. Now we all have to suffer. 🙁

[@sandram4526]

Great informative video Steve. I appreciate the the research you have put into this. Although peat is not yet banned it is very difficult to find in my area. I do make my own compost but it is not enough for my needs. Thanks Steve and take care.

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

Cheers San. Many anti-peat sites say to make your own compost. I cannot make any, let alone the 40 or 50 bags that I need in a growing season!

[@sandram4526]

@@DigwellGreenfingers It is very frustrating 😤 and a viable solution for gardeners seems to be a long way from happening. 🤷‍♀️

[@briansgardenandpolytunnel8172]

nicely put, steve................brian

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

Thank you kindly, sir 🙂

[@ibrstellar1080]

Great video Steve and it takes some balls just to even mention the peat usage issue.

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

Disinformation at its best!

[@mygardenanddinosaurs]

Highly informative Steve and certainly taught me a thing or two. Cheers. Mags.

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

To quote Lord of the Rings: "But they were all of them deceived ..." LOL

[@growingwithfungi]

Absolutely brilliant! 😁💚🙏🫐

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

Thank you! Cheers, Scott 👍

[@TheRightPearPlot]

Oh wow, very informative Steve, thank you for this 😊

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

Cheers Ali & Tri. Hope you have a great week now the winds have died down!

[@leewozzashomeveggiegarden]

Love the banter but what you said is true they don't want to listen

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

Who is the bigger fool? The fool who won't listen or the fool who tries to make him listen? LOL

[@VerdantSoul]

Well said 👍

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

Many thanks!

[@idahogardengirl942]

Yes.

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

Cheers

[@billvalsallotments5915]

Hi steve watched this twice as found it so very informative and your way of putting things across is perfect, wiuld of liked you as a teacher might of paid more attention back then , i had a chap like you when i did my apprenticeship maybe thats why i enjoyed it . Keep up the grand work mate .

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

Glad you enjoyed it, guys! I used to teach a bit in the navy and I always found it better to stray away from the norm when getting a point across LOL Have a great week!

[@kirkwilson72]

Good to see u other day at alotment thanks for all the advice hope to see u up there again soon

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

Cheers buddy. You witnessed the video being made, jeez it was cold LOL You know where I am if you need anything!

[@anitahaywood9827]

Well put!

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

Cheers Anita!

[@ibrstellar1080]

The more I go down the Climate rabbit hole the more I start question everything were told and the legitimacy of the scientist who call it fraudulent like moving the heat monitoring stations to city centres and airports for soul purpose of getting higher temperatures are just one example.

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

I am the same. I have seen several videos on air monitoring and I know what you mean. Bristol has not long ago started a clean air zone charge and do you know what theyhave done? Even though the city's biggest carpark is right on the edge of the zone, they have included it it in the zone. So not only do I have to pay to park, I have to pay an extra £9 to drive 50m into the zone to get to the multi-storey car park. Shocking. Not been there since its inception!

[@ibrstellar1080]

@@DigwellGreenfingers They see motorists as a cash cow and the carpark in Bristol is one of many, if they really wanted us driving electric cars then there would be around 15 new nuclear power plants being built but instead our grid is going to simply crash And become completely inadequate.

[@Garden-of-weeden]

Respect you for bringing this video out Steve, was very interesting!! X

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

Glad you enjoyed it, there is more to it than we know!

[@Garden-of-weeden]

@@DigwellGreenfingersyou’re so right! But we’re fed what they want us to know sadly xx

[@Sean.hinchlffe]

Brilliant & your right been saying similar since debate started. In the words of the late, great David Bellamy - it’s all poppycock. A “Green” council in Midlands now can’t afford to recharge its buses during day due to high energy costs so they’ve had to bring in diesel generators coz it’s cheaper. It’s 😂

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

And lorries will be exempt from becoming electric - the most polluting vehicles!

[@myrustygarden]

😂😂 did they all drive there or walk to that protest. People love to protest as long as it’s not causing them any inconvenience. Great update Steveo more reality than most will say 💪💪. Stay safe and peat on, Ali ☔️☔️🇨🇦 So coir out then 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

I know, the irony! Have a great week Ali.

[@BrainStormAcres]

Brilliant Steve! Please trolls the intellectually challenged … you might cause spontaneous human combustion. To borrow a phrase “you want the truth? You can’t handle the truth!” 🤣 Have a good one!

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

A Few Good Men - classic!

[@nickthegardener.1120]

Bravo Steve, absolutely brilliant.👌👍🙏🤠❤️🖤 Most people have no idea, they just get on the bandwagon. 👍👍👍👍 Ev cars batteries use cobalt and it's mined by children 😢.

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

Absolutely, don't start me on EVs!!!!

[@nickthegardener.1120]

@@DigwellGreenfingersDon't think EVs will catch on, they normally blow up😂. I like to watch Geoff buys cars channel, he has some great information in-between buying cars.😂

[@nitelite78]

Not all EVs use cobalt. A lot now don't including Tesla cars (see LFP batteries). So.the option is there to avoid it if you want. Mobile phones, laptops, cordless power tools etc... usually do contain cobalt though. Also the petroleum industry uses cobalt in oil refining.

[@nickthegardener.1120]

@@nitelite78 Thermal runaway, low mileage, and high insurance is the reason why I will never buy an electric car. I would also like to check the magnetic field within an EV car to see if that's safe too. 👍

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

@@nickthegardener.1120 I watch "EV Carnage" - he delivers EVs and shares his angst of them.

[@MuddyBootz]

As usual, the end user is the victim, being forced to pay ludicrous prices for sub-standard offerings. Government in panic mode as usual, take the internal combustion engine ban as an example. Logic and fact don’t come into the equation. Well highlighted mate 💪

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

Nice one Nigel - you summed it all up in a few sentences!

[@susiespearing6165]

Spot on Steve O.1 % .Peat free is garbage and Coir is absolutely not a substitute it's the worst "eco" decision anyone could make .Im having to make my own

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

The thing that shocked me most about coir when I was making the video was the fact that the plantations etc are now selling it to us at the expense of their own future. Making a quick buck! It will not take many seasons of soil mismanagement there to start reducing crops - and then a downward spiral. A similar story with woodchip but on that front, many tree surgeons are selling their woodchip as bio fuel instead of gladly giving it to allotment sites.

[@CoastalGardensNW]

Nice one Steve not sure I like that other guy haha

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

Me neither - which one? LOL

[@trollforge]

Steve your video restarted at the end for some reason... It was like Peat and repeat... ;)

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

LOL - did you pay twice then, Tim?😂

[@davidmclay6156]

Most of The Peat Free compost is rubbish and expensive, I found one for 35liters at £24, Clover 80liters for less than £10😅

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

They seem to be charging the earth, if you'll forgive my pun!

[@fletchybabe6172]

Are they per annum figures for CO2. How much CO2 does the average human exhale per annum??🙂

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

Yes, I think they are per annum, Fletch. A human emits 4 tons of CO2 a year!

[@locke6531]

👍

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

Many thanks! Have a great week down there.

[@robsallotmentchannel9942]

Hi Steve I was fortunate to watch this on Sunday night. You are so correct in what you say, but what gets me is the cost to bring coir to the UK. Also the cheap labour to produce it and lack of health and safety, and child labour. 🥥🥥🥥🥥🥥

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

LOL Exactly why I put the snippets at the end. Shockingly, as I quoted from one source, the soil is now suffering in places where coir comes from as it has not been mulched for a few seasons.

[@nitelite78]

Just waiting to hear the government announce that we should start growing our own coconut trees...😂

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

@@nitelite78 🤣And if they did, they would impose a limit of two per household🤣🤣

[@WhatWeDoChannel]

I enjoyed that! I know peat is carefully managed here in Canada and not harmful to the environment and sustainable. I liked everything you said! The climate change actions have a much bigger impact on people’s lives than climate change itself ever would. Klaus

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

Wonderful! The "Canadian Way" is quoted quite a bit here as an arguement that taking peat is not harmful! Have a great weekend over there buddy

[@nitelite78]

Great to watch this - haven't seen many videos on the topic at all - most people just seem to go along with and accept the proclamations of it being "better for the environment". I've been a bit suspicious about the peat issue for a while. Importing coco coir does seem a bit mental. Clearly finding alternatives to peat may lead to just the same kind of problems that is claimed are trying to be fixed - e.g. chopping down large amounts of trees for the woodchip. I don't really get the "peat bogs as CO2 storage" argument if I'm honest. I could see there being a strong argument if peat was still being burned to heat homes, but it isn't. It seems with compost we are just shifting the peat from one location to another and then growing stuff in that peat which itself removes CO2 from the atmosphere. I'd like to hear a good scientific explanation of the CO2 cycle with regards to peat extraction because I'm a bit suspicious about it all. I'm not really with you as much on electric cars though. I think EVs are generally a much better option than petrol and diesel cars due to the massive increase in efficiency and reduced pollution in cities. There are clearly pros and cons to both though and I think in the EV debate there's a bit of dishonesty/ignorance on both sides. The charging costs/access is definitely a big issue that the pro EV side often ignore. Your suggestion of reduced pricing at charge points is interesting. Another option might just be a progressive tax on electricity e.g. a household gets say xkWh of electricity per month tax free (to cover basic needs) then anything above that amount is taxed at a higher rate. That would encourage more efficient cars to be made and sold. It would also lessen the blow to those who can only charge away from their house. I suspect the government will do this because it would be cheap to implement and the government will eventually be looking at ways to replace fuel duty income losses.

[@DigwellGreenfingers]

The only good thing with EVs, as you say, is that they reduce the on-street pollution. Great for city type travel but not really viable for long distance travel. They are still in the class of the nuclear waste category - no idea what to do with it at life end! Anyway, as I said on the video, that is a topic for another day.