“The Gardener’s Guide to Saving the Planet”
Authors: Eliza Olson & Seppideh Saatchi
Publisher: Peatlands Protection Society
(website in progress)

In my quest to understand at least some aspect of the catch-phrase “For peat’s sake, don’t use peat!” I contacted the Peatlands Protection Society. I was delightfully surprised to receive an immediate response from co-author Eliza Olson. She quickly made me aware that the preservation of peatlands needs a lot more public attention as well as immediate governmental policy changes. Other countries have already begun to implement restrictions. 

The book, “The Gardener’s Guide to Saving the Planet”, is not only informative, but very interesting to read! It offers straight-forward explanations of what peatlands are, why their preservation is so important to their unique environment, and how they are part of the solution to climate change. Additionally, there are useful tips for gardeners on simple changes they can make to combat peatlands desecration actively. You might even explore creating your own bog or moss garden. Here’s a fun bonus: there are recipes at the end of each section! 

 

You can read a lovely book review in the BC Council of Garden Clubs Dec. Bulletin, pages 6-7.
https://bcgardenclubs.com/wp-content/uploads/bulletins/2024/bulletin-2024-12.pdf

Single books: $29.95 +5%GST=$31.45 + $5.00 shipping & handling unless picked up at the society’s office in Delta. Cheques and e-transfers are available for payment. Proceeds go to the society’s education programs.
To order the book or for more information contact: peatlands@peatlandsprotectionsociety.ca Eliza Olson, LLD.,(h.c.), B.Ed.

Some of the points Ms. Olson mentioned in our emails were:

*Some peatlands are up to 50,000 years old. Dr. Maria Strack estimates it takes 1,000 years to get a damaged/extracted peatland back to its original state and at least 100 years to get it fully functioning. 

*Manitoba is the only Canadian province that has any legislation protecting our peatlands. (Manitoba has more peatland – and consequently more soil carbon storage–than any other Canadian province.)

*The River-Fish Cree in Manitoba recently got funding from several places to buy extraction licenses. The Cree have no plans to extract peat but to return it to its natural state for hunting, gathering food and plants for medicinal uses.

*The UK ended the sale of peat for gardening either last year or this year. A few years ago, Kew Gardens was 98% peat-free and planned to be completely peat free by last year. King Charles III stopped using peat in 1988. (Eliza sent two copies of her book to HRH as a token of her appreciation for his discontinuing peat in his farming practices.)

* Ireland hasn’t outright banned extracting peat. They put in several restrictions preventing the burning of peat. Bord Na Mona set up to hire unemployed Irishmen to extract peat no longer do any extracting.

* West Coast Seeds in Ladner doesn’t use peat. David Hunter and the Garden Centers in Burnaby sell coir. There is the original Sea Soil without peat. I’ve had one or two people raise concerns about where they get their dead fish—fish farms. On the other hand, what better place to use them, if we take sufficient preparation steps?

 

Ms. Olson also pointed out some other information.

Inside Climate News:  Virginia’s Great Dismal Swamp Peatland Restoration
* https://insideclimatenews.org/news/19012025/virginia-great-dismal-swamp-peatland-restoration-carbon-sinks/
This webpage explores a huge bog area in Virginia. It states: “…What was once a vast carbon sink (is now) a net emitter of carbon.  According to recent research, the Great Dismal Swamp has released an estimated 183 teragrams of carbon dioxide equivalents since the late 1700s, the same as driving more than 42 million gas-powered cars for one year.”

* 2023 The Environmental Law Centre Society Report
“Legal or Policy Options to Ban or Limit the Use of Horticultural Peat Moss in British Columbia”
This report states: “The UNEP Global Peatlands Assessment reports that horticultural peat extraction in Canada has disturbed 24,964 hectares of peatland, of which 8,182 have been restored and 2,168 reclaimed. The fact that the industry in Canada takes active steps to restore harvested peatland is commendable and this should be acknowledged and encouraged. However, Professor Maria Strack, the Canada Research Chair in Ecosystems and Climate at the University of Waterloo, has stated that properly restored peatland can restore carbon uptake after 20 years – but 'it will take much longer to recapture the carbon that is released when peat is used as a growing medium – probably 100s to 1000s of years.'” 

The Environmental Law Centre recommendations are:
1. The Province of BC should move to ban the sale of horticultural peat moss.
2. The Province of BC should create government procurement policies that ensure peat-based products are not procured for horticultural and park services.
3. Municipal governments should set local regulatory initiatives to ban the use of peat-based products within their jurisdictions.
4. The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation should ban the use of peat-based products in city parks and street trees.
5. The Province of BC should support point of sale measures to discourage consumers from purchasing horticultural peat.
6. The Peatland Protection Society could seek to create a voluntary certification program for garden retailers.

NOTE: Other institutions have a different perspective which favours the peat industry.
They claim that peatlands can be restored within acceptable time frames.
This is in conflict with the broader view of peatlands having a more important role in counteracting climate change.

*  Peatland Restoration Guide 
This guide outlines the research regarding peatland restoration. It is noted that research only started in 1993. Large-scale restorations have not been entirely successful. Some sphagnum dominated peatlands cannot be restored to their natural state. The best success is seen when the restoration methods are determined before the site is actually harvested.
https://tourbehorticole.com/wp-content/uploads/docs/Peatland_Restoration-e.pdf

* CSPMA Canadian Sphagnum Moss Association
and PERG Peatland Ecology Research Group
Research on the management of peat as a resource has been ongoing since 1992. They state that sphagnum moss coverage can be re-established within three to five years. They also state that it takes 10 to 15 years following restoration for the site to capture carbon to levels equivalent to natural peatlands. 
https://peatmoss.com/
https://www.gret-perg.ulaval.ca/en/

 

Part 1 - Peat and Peatlands