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The bog has landed! Peatland on display at RHS Chelsea to highlight how gardeners can protect landscapes by switching to peat-free composts

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Curlews, lapwing, the hum of billions of insects…. and the occasional squelch – the sounds of a peatland captured and to be heard over a little piece of Cumbrian peatland, on loan from Natural England, and installed in the Discovery Zone at RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

The critical importance of UK peatlands to our climate will be brought home to gardeners at the show in this unique exhibit by peat-free compost maker Dalefoot Composts and the Eden Project.

Under special license from Natural England, a slice of bog ‘borrowed’ from peatland previously harvested for horticulture will go on show to demonstrate the environmental damage gardeners are causing to our planet by using peat compost in their outdoor spaces.

In the immersive Discovery Zone display, gardeners will be invited ‘to step into’ the borrowed slice of National Nature Reserve (NNR) peatland from a restored Cumbrian bog to experience the secrets, sounds and beauty of these enormous bog gardens. The peatland display will be given expert care whilst at the show to make sure it remains hydrated and will be returned to its natural home once Chelsea has finished.

Alongside, a bountiful potager of vegetables and companion planting grown by gold-medal-winning Pennard Plants, will illustrate what gardeners can achieve in their own plot by switching to peat-free gardening. All of these plants have been grown in Dalefoot Compost’s peat-free products which are Soil Association-approved for organic growing.

Peatlands only occupy about 3% of the Earth’s land surface but are the largest terrestrial carbon store on the planet. UK peatlands cover around 12% of its land area and store 3.2 billion tonnes of carbon, more than twice that of the UK’s forests*, as well as being very important habitats for biodiversity.

Professor Jane Barker is the co-founder of Dalefoot Composts which is a major manufacturer of peat-free compost and a leading restorer of damaged peatlands, including the NNR site in Cumbria.

She said: “Up until now, the scientific understanding underpinning individual gardeners’ responsibility to climate change gardening has not been well communicated. We want to demonstrate how you can easily make a difference in your own garden by ditching the use of peat and switching to peat-free compost.

“The importance of peat and peatlands to our climate and the planet have also not been made clear or accessible for our gardeners, whilst trees have taken centre stage and are much easier to relate to. However, peat is hugely significant to our climate’s future.”

The timeline of a bog will be illustrated in the RHS Chelsea exhibit to show the thousands of years peat represents. Peat grows at only 1mm per year and this will be contrasted to the bags of peat compost it would yield and the short season of growth that peat might give gardeners.

Whilst the Government has set targets for peatland restoration and is currently consulting on a peat ‘ban’, in amateur gardening there remains a significant resistance to switching to peat-free and it is predicted even more peat could be used in the future. Of the 5.44 million cubic metres of growing media used in 2020, 79% was used by amateur gardeners. Two-thirds of peat sold in the UK is from Europe, meaning we are effectively exporting our carbon footprint. Voluntary targets set for peat sellers have had little impact and the new target of ending peat sales by 2024 is being questioned for being too slow and not enough.

This is the latest initiative by Dalefoot Composts and the Eden Project to promote the sustainability benefits of peat-free gardening. Dalefoot’s Wool Compost for Potting is endorsed by the world-renowned environmental charity and social enterprise, and the two organisations have plans to work together on other future initiatives.

Dalefoot will be supporting six show gardens and exhibits at RHS Chelsea with its peat-free compost

– The New Blue Peter Garden: Discover Soil by Juliet Sargeant; Brewin Dolphin Garden by Paul Hervey-Brookes; The Mothers for Mothers – This Too Shall Pass Garden by Pollyanna Wilkinson; The Wild Kitchen Garden by Ann Treneman; RHS Queen’s Jubilee Photographic Exhibit by Dave Green, and the Animal and Plant Health Agency – Don’t Risk It! exhibit.

Two of the company’s peat-free composts have also been shortlisted in the RHS Chelsea Sustainable Garden Product of the Year 2022 – Wool Compost for Potting and Wool Compost Double Strength.

ENDS

Stand GPA 105 in the Discovery Zone of the Great Pavilion – Stand AR 545 for Dalefoot Compost

For further information contact Emma Mason on emma@emmamasonpr.co.uk 07762 117433 or Ben Foster, Media and Engagement Manager, bfoster@EdenProject.com  For more info, go to www.edenproject.com

Bolton Fell Moss is a lowland raised bog damaged through commercial extraction of peat but has since begun a journey of restoration thanks to an ongoing project by Natural England. Extraction ended in 2013 but left a vast expanse of dry, bare peat where limited wildlife could survive. Restoration work has raised the water levels; bog vegetation was then introduced but it will take time for the sphagnum mosses to cover the bare peat and for other bog plants to return. It could take up to 30 years for the bog to fully recover.

Dalefoot’s story – The entrepreneurial couple behind Dalefoot, environmental scientist Jane Barker and farmer Simon Bland, started making compost from the natural ingredients around their Cumbrian farm in 1997. Inspired by early 20th century gardening books that mentioned wool as a garden mulch, and a desire to make good use of the invasive bracken growing on the fells, the couple invented their secret compost recipe, bagged the product up themselves and started selling at local farmers’ markets. Twenty years later the compost is sold across the UK and the business employs 25 local people, and sources bracken and wool from farmers.

The Dalefoot team also restores peat bogs, some of which were once owned by peat compost companies, across the country for the likes of Natural England, NatureScot, South West Water and Wildlife Trusts. Peat bogs store more carbon than forests and many in the UK are now in poor condition, releasing carbon rather than storing it. Dalefoot works with these agencies to help reduce carbon release and return the bogs to functioning, healthy eco-systems. In 2022 Dalefoot announced a total of 3.8 million tonnes of carbon saved through their restoration projects.

The range is available online at www.dalefootcomposts.co.uk from £12.75 per bag down to £8.50 each for orders of 50 bags plus delivery, and also from a growing list of stockists. Tel: 01931 713281   Email: sales@dalefootcomposts.co.uk

* IUCN

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Juliet Sargeant designs new RHS garden in partnership with Blue Peter

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  • The New Blue Peter Garden: Discover Soil to have a permanent home at RHS Garden Bridgewater from the autumn with a preview showing at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 
  • 2022 new Blue Peter garden designed by Juliet Sargeant – fun and interactive soil science, journey through soil in a subterranean rhizotron, dodge ‘rain’ showers, listen to a compost heap, and explore a spring barley field, wildflower meadow with orchids, native woodland or veg patc

A new soil-themed garden, in partnership with CBBC’s Blue Peter, is to open to visitors at RHS Garden Bridgewater in Salford in the autumn – with a guest appearance first at this month’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Designed by award-winning designer Juliet Sargeant, it will champion the very modern-day topic of soil’s central role in supporting life and its potential to lock-in carbon. Aimed at engaging children and adults to discover the importance of soil in their own back gardens, balconies, or communities, it will explain why we need to protect it and how. The new garden will first preview as a Main Avenue show garden at RHS Chelsea later this month, before being relocated to its permanent home at RHS Garden Bridgewater for public access.

A beautiful mini wildflower meadow featuring British orchids; tiny ‘field’ planted with spring barley, a RHS Chelsea first; veg patch and native woodland, will demonstrate how soil supports our natural landscape, food crops and gardens.  To access the immersive garden, visitors at RHS Garden Bridgewater will be able to hop over stepping stones and then crawl into dank fern-planted cavities to dig the earth, listen to the sounds of a compost heap, and even dodge a playful rain shower, a reminder of how water forms and also degrades soil.

The brightly planted garden will take you down into the ground and bring the soil up from beneath your feet, to see, touch and hear, and to draw you into the amazing underground world of mini-beasts and microbes. The earthy adventure continues with a semi-subterranean, theatrical rhizotron chamber where a soil animation by Polish artist Zuzanna Kolodziej will play, with tree roots growing above.

Juliet Sargeant said: “Soil supports most of the life on our planet, without soil there is nothing. Down-trodden and neglected, it is the ‘forgotten climate solution’ beneath our feet. Healthy soils not only feed most of life on earth, but also act as an essential carbon sink for damaging greenhouse gases. My aim with this garden is to invite people to look more closely at soil and the subtleties of its complex ecosystem. We raise it up to eye level and say, ‘Look at this!”

Citizen art on the garden includes ‘creepy crawlies’ painted by Year 5 children from Salford and soil de-crustation artworks by German artist Anneli Ketterer in collaboration with Salford residents. Sculptor Teresa Wells has cast a bespoke bronze of 4-year-old, Arthur, discovering a worm for the garden. In Compost Corner you can listen to the sounds of a healthy soil, recorded by the Zurich University Sounding Soil project. Tiles of Stow have created bespoke cracked clay paving tiles, to remind us of the devastation of drought, but the brightly coloured planting and field of barley illustrate the abundance that a healthy soil sustains.

There will be blue and orange-hued plants nurtured by Roger Platts Garden Design and Nurseries of Edenbridge.

Blue Peter has a proud history of garden design with the show’s original Blue Peter garden being designed by Percy Thrower in 1974. It was relocated from Television Centre to Media City in 2012, with the Italian-style sunken ornamental pond and statue of the first ever Blue Peter dog, Petra. The garden features regularly on the show and is open for the public to visit at Media City UK in Salford Quays.

The New Blue Peter Garden: Discover Soil is one of 12 gardens at RHS Chelsea Flower Show this year being funded by Project Giving Back (PGB). PGB is a new charity, established in response to the pandemic, that offers good causes in the UK the opportunity to exhibit a show garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show, to promote their work for people, plants and the planet. All gardens supported by PGB will be relocated to permanent homes after the show so their legacy will live on for generations to come.

Five easy tips for helping your soil by Juliet Sargeant

  • Know your soil – The soil in your garden is an amazing micro-environment, teaming with life and the potential to grow. The character of the soil, its texture and chemical make-up is unique to your site. This is what gives your garden its individuality and what will affect the plants you can grow. Get to know your soil by observing its colour and texture and also by testing its acidity with a kit from the garden centre.
  • Feed your soil – The mini-beasts and micro-organisms that inhabit your soil need feeding. Their complex life cycles are what sustains the health of the soil. Starting a compost heap to recycle your food scraps and garden waste is the best thing you can do to feed your soil. Turn your waste into compost and use it to feed your soil.
  • Protect your soil – Soil is always there, beneath our feet; so, it is easy to overlook how fragile it is. Your soil needs protection from wind, rain and also compaction. The best way to protect soil is to plant it – leaves form a natural, protective blanket over the soil surface. However, digging the soil can damage its delicate structure, so why not try the ‘No-Dig Method’ of mulching your soil with peat-free compost to suppress the weeds. When you are watering, try to avoid flooding the soil and compacting it.
  • Plant your soil – The best way to support the natural life cycle of your soil is to grow plants. Trees in particular are invaluable to a garden’s ecosystem and to the protection and stabilisation of soil. Planting trees is great. However, given the many years it takes for a tree to grow, it is also important to protect established trees and only fell them when absolutely necessary.
  • Let your soil breathe….it’s alive – In this age of the car many of us need extra parking space. As more and more of us pave over our gardens, the soil beneath is dying; it is suffocating. This sealing of the soil, also prevents rainwater draining away and exacerbates local flooding. Fortunately, there are permeable paving solutions which you can choose for your driveway or patio.

 ENDS

For further press information contact: Emma Mason emma@emmamasonpr.co.uk 07762 117433

or

Designer: Juliet Sargeant – Office: 01273 834 083

www.julietsargeant.com www.sussexgardenschool.com

Twitter: @julietsargeant Instagram: julietsargeant Facebook: @sussexgardenschool

Juliet Sargeant – is a Sussex-based garden designer who loves to use gardens to tell stories and get us thinking. In 2016, she was awarded a CFS Gold Medal and The People’s Choice Award for her ‘Modern Slavery Garden’.

Having trained initially as a medical doctor, in this garden, she explores the interface between art and science. Juliet has long advocated the importance of gardens for health and in her private practice, she uses gardens to help connect people to landscape and nature. At her ‘Sussex Garden School’ she runs courses to de-mystify gardening and help people to get to know their gardens better.

Previously, Chair of The Society of Garden Designers, Juliet is now on the RHS (Royal Horticultural Soc) selection panel for show gardens and acts as a judge. She has won awards from the SGD in 2012 and 2015, for sustainability and hard landscaping design. In 2017 Juliet was made a Fellow of the SGD for her contribution to garden design & horticulture and in 2019 she was made Fellow of The Landscape Institute. In 2016 Juliet was celebrated for her role as a change-maker and role model in the BAME community at the GG2 Leadership Awards. She was also one of the Evening Standard’s Progress 100 influential people. In 2018 she was named as one of the BBC 100 Women.

Blue Peter – is the longest running kids TV show in the world featuring Adam, Mwaksy, Richie and Henry the dog. Blue Peter is packed full of challenges, celebrities, and things to do. Every week on CBBC and BBC iPlayer, Blue Peter encourages kids to join in, earn their badge, enter a competition, be creative and adventurous. bbc.co.uk/bluepeter

Project Giving Back (PGB) – is a unique grant-making charity that provides funding for gardens for good causes at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. PGB was launched in May 2021, with funding from two private individuals who wish to remain anonymous, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and its effect on UK charitable fundraising. It will fund gardens inspired by a range of good causes at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Applications for gardens in 2023 are now closed. Find out more at www.givingback.org.uk

 

 

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Eco compost shortlisted for first ever RHS Chelsea Sustainable Garden Product of the Year Award

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RHS Sustainable Garden Product of the Year finalist

A peat-free compost range made from sheep’s wool, bracken – and now comfrey – by Dalefoot Composts in the Lake District has been shortlisted for the first ever RHS Chelsea Sustainable Garden Product of the Year Award.

Dalefoot Wool Compost with Comfrey, launched earlier this year by the Penrith-based firm, is one of ten shortlisted products to be recognised for their green credentials in this prestigious RHS competition*.

Family-owned Dalefoot Composts spent five years perfecting the addition of comfrey, a plant superfood, into its popular peat-free Wool Compost range. Known as the organic gardener’s best friend, comfrey has high levels of potassium, phosphorous and nitrogen for healthy plant growth, larger flowers and bigger crops.

Comfrey is now grown sustainably at Dalefoot farm near Heltondale as a commercial crop allowing the company to scale up peat-free compost production to supply many more garden centres and nurseries across the UK, plus online for home delivery. Blending comfrey into the composts complements the company’s on-farm approach to no-till soil management, adds structure and additional flowers and biodiversity to the landscape benefitting insects and pollinators, and, importantly from a horticultural perspective, provides increased nutrient content in the final compost product.

Professor Jane Barker of Dalefoot Composts said: “As firm believers in true sustainability – social, economic and environmental – our team is over the moon to get this recognition and be shortlisted. We take real care to employ environmental best practice at Dalefoot, from the sourcing and harvesting of ingredients, to packaging and delivery. Our premium products also provide gardeners with a sustainable alternative to using environmentally damaging peat in their outdoor spaces.”

With a hat-trick of performance-packed natural ingredients – comfrey, bracken and sheep’s wool – the Wool Compost range feeds plants for at least a season, requires less watering, as wool cleverly retains moisture, and is Soil Association-approved for organic gardening. Wool Compost is available in Potting, Seeds, Vegetables & Salads, Tomatoes, Double Strength and Ericaceous**.

The company sources bracken from Exmoor, Northumberland and Wales, as well as locally in Cumbria – helping a diversity of farming communities and local landscapes. Bracken is an invasive plant but when harvested sustainably and composted, provides rich potash for plants and acts as a fantastic soil conditioner. Sheep farmers are benefitting too as supplying undipped wool for the compost means they have a market for a product they struggle to sell. Dalefoot is a significant local employer and is Living Wage-accredited, and it also restores damaged peat bogs for organisations such as Natural England and the wildlife trusts.

Over the past 12 months, compost production has doubled at Dalefoot, with more than 175 garden centres and nurseries now stocking its products.

ENDS

For further information contact Emma Mason on emma@emmamasonpr.co.uk 07762 117433

Comfrey is renowned in the gardening world for being a plant superfood. It has very long roots so is able to absorb nutrients deep in the soil as it grows, and when harvested and then added to compost or a traditional comfrey tea, the nutrients give a growing ‘kick’ to other plants, encouraging strong, healthy growth. The introduction of comfrey to the compost mix marks the culmination of a five-year project by the Dalefoot team to grow the plant on a commercial scale, sustainably on the farm, and harness its extraordinary qualities. The fast-growing comfrey crop can be harvested four times a year, so there is plenty on tap to meet rising demand for the company’s premium composts in the future.

 

Dalefoot’s story – The entrepreneurial couple behind Dalefoot, environmental scientist Professor Jane Barker and farmer Simon Bland, started making compost from the natural ingredients around their Cumbrian farm in 1997. Inspired by early 20th century gardening books that mentioned wool as a garden mulch, and a desire to make good use of the invasive bracken growing on the fells, the couple invented their secret compost recipe, bagged the product up themselves and started selling at local farmers’ markets. Twenty years later the compost is sold across the UK and the business employs 18 local people, and sources bracken and wool from farmers.

The range is available online at www.dalefootcomposts.co.uk from £11.99 per bag down to £8.50 each for orders of 50 bags plus delivery, and also from a growing list of stockists. Tel: 01931 713281   Email: sales@dalefootcomposts.co.uk

 

Peat bogs – The Dalefoot team also restores peat bogs, some of which were once owned by peat compost companies, across the UK for the likes of Natural England, NatureScot, South West Water and wildlife trusts. Peat bogs store more carbon than forests and many in the UK are now in poor condition, releasing carbon rather than just storing it. To date, this work equates to 1 million tonnes of carbon emissions – equivalent to 500,000 flights from London to New York – saved since Dalefoot started two decades ago.

 

* About RHS Chelsea Sustainable Garden Product of the Year – The RHS Chelsea Flower Show Garden Product of the Year was launched in 2011 to recognise the best new garden products at the show. In line with the ever increasing importance to ensure products offer sustainable solutions, the 2021 competition will award the RHS Chelsea Sustainable Garden Product of the Year for the first time. Other shortlisted products include New Vegebag by Vegepod UK, Composting Loo by Green Oak and Ocean Plastic Pots, made from discarded rope and fishing net. An expert judging panel will consider environmental sustainability as well as innovation, visual appeal, functionality and quality and the winner will be announced during Virtual Chelsea (17 – 21 May). A trophy presentation will take place on Press Day at RHS Chelsea Flower Show now being held in September.

 

** Wool Compost Ericaceous, Lakeland Gold and Bulb Compost do not contain comfrey