To kick off the spring 2023 gardening season, Tesco has announced it will be the first supermarket retailer in the UK to sell all of its British-grown bedding plants in peat-free compost.

This joins its move earlier this year to retail only peat-free bags of growing media. Together these two initiatives have enabled Tesco to reduced its peat use by nearly 9,000 cubic metres and its carbon footprint by more than 1,200 tonnes of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent emissions) a year – a reduction of 75%.

Tesco sells around 40 million plants annually and its selection of bedding plants is grown by Bridge Farm Horticulture in Spalding, Lincolnshire. Alex Edwards,

Tesco Horticulture Category Buying Manager said: “Going peat free on our British-grown bedding plants is right for our customers - we've listened to their feedback and have worked hard to prove we can deliver the same great quality, but now being better for our planet. Looking ahead, we hope this approach can be adopted on a wider-scale – it’s our aim to deliver this across a broader range of plants.”

Last year Tesco’s bedding plants were around 95% peat free because a viable alternative hadn’t been found for young plant propagation. After a year of trials with growing media containing wood fibre and natural by-products, and the problem has been solved.

Louise Motala, Bridge Farm Horticulture Managing Director said: “We felt as strongly as Tesco that it was an important step to remove all peat from our compost formulations. To enable us to do so we have started propagating the majority of our seed and cutting young plants ourselves. This investment in our facility and capabilities has not only helped us to deliver on this commitment, it has also given us greater flexibility and control of the whole supply chain.”