For pete's sake - peat tax

I would agree with you Armandii.

There is no shortage of peat. There are just too many human beings in this world. But no one seems able to see that.

I say use peat. True we will run out of it, but we will run out of everything else first and we don't seem to be concerned about that. :DOH:

 

I can see both sides to be honest.

On one hand, we are told that taking peat is bad for the environment. This being the case, it is right that we should try to force suppliers to find comparable alternatives.

On the other hand, we (not just government, but eco pressure groups and even ordinary folk) have a track record for kneejerk reactions that actually do more harm than good.

To give an example, remember the biofuel fiasco. I personally believe that biofuel is a good concept, but poor implementation meant that huge areas of rainforest were stripped bare for palm plantations, in the name of the environment.

In another example, I horrified a very nice and well meaning lass at work recently. She is a vegetarian (commendable that she has such principles) and was arguing with me that soya products are a great alternative to meat, and totally eco friendly. I showed told her to google simply 'soya rainforest'. The poor girl spent half an hour reading silently, and by the time she'd finished the expression on her face made me genuinely regret shattering her illusion.

Personally, I'm all for eco stuff, but it is never black and white, and the truth is, we just don't understand all the ins and outs. Nature is far more complicated than we could ever hope to understand. Best to just try and work with it, and only rule out bad habits when we're absolutely sure that the alternatives isn't even worse.

 

Wasn't it only in the 1960s that peat started to be used on a large scale by gardeners?

I think that's when I remember my father buying great bales of the stuff and tipping them all over the garden.

Wasn't most seed/potting compost soil based before then? Nowadays it's difficult to find the few bags of JI # 1,2 & 3 at a garden centre amongst all the piles of peat and peat free stuff at garden centres.

 

I would love to be peat free too, but after several years searching for a good alternative to JI no2 I went back. It's the only peat I use and I don't use very much.

I'm sure a tax on peat would put a lot of smaller nurseries out of business. Personally, I think the upcoming fuel famine should be more of an issue for the government.

 

Not sure what she was reading, but from one minute on google:

80% of soya is grown in the USA.

98% of this is used to feed livestock (Brazil's rainforests are being cut down by the cattle ranchers so I'd imagine this figure to be at least as much there).

Feel free to tell her that the amount of soy used in vegetarian products could be grown in a backyard on Coronation Street. Hilarious to think someone could think the rainforests are being destroyed to make soya milk and tofu!

 

Cant understand why anybody should think applying government tax to something would stop its use.
We already have crippling tax on fuel, cigarettes and alcohol and I dont think many have stopped using them for that reason.

A tax on peat would just help out the government and put more pressure on anybody who is just hoping to grow a few veg or enjoys having a nice garden.
True peat will run out at some point and I dont agree with stripping out all peat deposits in the country, you just preserve the best areas, and that costs nothing.

But Taxation is not the way to go.

 

I agree with every word of what you said on this Armandii.
I find the peat free composts useless so I continue to use the peat based stuff. I will not be made to feel guilty about doing it while the Irish govt is using it to fuel their power stations.
And the peat tax would achieve nothing and they know it ! Just another way of getting an extra quid out of the taxpayers.

 

My point was not that vegatarians are destroying the planet. The point is she was arguing that soya (not just the soya that she eats, but commercially grown soya for any use) is entirely eco friendly and sustainable, while I was pointing out that it is well documented that rain forest is being cleared, sometimes legally, sometimes not, for soya plantations due to increased demand. In essence, my point was that some people, the lass at work included, think that because something is a plant, then growing it must be eco, when in fact that may be true provided that bigger plants (eg mature trees) aren't ripped out to make way for it.

I wasn't debating the ethics of vegatarians vs omnivores. I have a whole set of views on that, but that's a different subject.

 

I agree. And its not just the likes of you and I that recognise that, lots of conservation organisations recognise it too. I can't remember the sources of my info, but I have heard and read quite a lot on this point. There are a couple of pertinent nuggets of information that spring to mind. One is that it has been recognised that many creatures that always used to be countryside dwellers, are now more likely to be found in towns, because gardens have more biodiversity of flora now that many areas of countryside. The other thing was that people's gardens, collectively make up many thousands of hectares of land.

 

The "soil conditioner" made from recycled organic waste (they seem to have dropped the idea of calling it compost) is more expensive than multi-purpose compost if you want tp buy it, but when they have a surplus to get rid of, they give it to allotment societies and deliver it free. If they really wanted to reduce the use of peat, they could lower the price so as to be more competitive.

I am experimenting at present with a mixture of 3 parts loam (clay soil), four parts MP Compost and one part sharp sand. This is for Tomatoes in large pots. For seed and cutting mixture I use equal quantities of MP Compost and sharp sand.

 

Wasn't the government trying to get people to start gardening again (mainly fruit and veg if I remember correctly)? This was to make the carbon foot print lower or something like that.

And now they are going to put MORE tax on something that gardeners use? How is that going to encourager people to lower there carbon foot print?

 

Am I the only person who read that and thought at last some one's come up with a useful purpose for our politicians?

Anyway, I rather hoped my earlier post on this thread might jog some memories as to what gardeners used before the introduction of peat based compost (which I use).

 

Just out of interest I'd like to know what is used in potting composts in other countries.
Surely some parts of the world dont have access to peat

For example what does your average Aussie put in his pots?