Ditch peat and cheap pots, says Monty Don

Monty Don said garden centres selling peat were choosing to do harm
Monty Don said garden centres selling peat were choosing to do harm
JASON INGRAM

Monty Don has accused garden centres of “actively choosing to do harm” by selling peat-based compost and advised gardeners not to buy mass-produced disposable pot plants.

He said gardeners should stop “sticking their head in the sand” about climate change.

Ten years ago the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said that the use of peat by amateur gardeners should be phased out by 2020.

Campaigners say the exploitation of peat bogs causes loss of biodiversity and rising carbon dioxide emissions.

Don, who was writing in his column in Gardeners’ World magazine about the threat posed by climate change and deforestation said: “If you don’t care about this you are sticking your head in the sand, not least because it will affect the quality