Lasagna Gardening???

[Andy Hamilton]

It's not expensive and you certainly don't need peat!

Ahh the p word, why do people still insist on using the stuff? I got sent some seeds from ebay a while back with peat pots as a free gift. I gave the bloke the only bad feedback that he had had. No need for it (peat that is, not bad feedback)

[alcina]

A lot of so-called "peat pots" these days aren't peat. They're basically just paper maché! A more solid version of the newspaper pot.

Alcina

[Andy Hamilton]

A lot of so-called "peat pots" these days aren't peat. They're basically just paper maché! A more solid version of the newspaper pot.

Alcina

I never knew that, so I might have wronged someone without good reason

[alcina]

I never knew that, so I might have wronged someone without good reason

The darker ones still use peat I think, it's the lighter (cheaper) ones that are practiaclly all paper (hopefully recycled!). It has to be said that the peat ones do work better as once wet they break down much more easily and the roots can get out. Some of the paper ones can be quite tough! Just from my own obsesrvations....the peat ones tend to grow a white mould, whereas the paper ones tend to grow a black mould. This research is based on a pitifully small sample and was not performed under controlled conditions and therefore is probably totally spurious!

Also....not all peat is...well...peat! There are two types sold: spagnum peat and sedge peat. Spagnum is a moss, sedge is grass. It's the spagnum peat bogs that are under threat. Sedge peat is much cheaper and far less reliable a medium (the reliability of spagnum peat was why it was used I believe). Spagnum peat is quite acidic, whereas sedge peat can be anything. Spganum peat holds a lot of water (though becomes hydrophobic if you let it dry out), sedge holds considerably less water and rots down faster. If it doesn't say spagnum peat on the packet, it'll be sedge peat. I believe, though I could be wrong, that sedge peat is basically just composted grasses as opposed to the slow anerobic composting over hundreds of years that is spagnum peat.

Either way, extensive tests have shown that coir based soils perform as well as spagnum peat and better than sedge peat and as coir is a byproduct of industry and is a renewable, waste resource. It's win, win, win with coir!

Just my rambling 2p
Alcina