Hello and welcome to The Compost Bin. I'm Compostwoman and I live with my family in rural Herefordshire. We have nearly four acres of garden and woodland, all managed organically and to Permaculture principles, which we share with Chickens, Cats and assorted wildlife. We also grow a lot of our own food, run courses in all sorts of things and make a lot of compost!

I am a Master Composter and have spent more than a decade as a volunteer Community Compost adviser with Garden Organic and my local Council.
I'm a self employed Environmental Educator so I run workshops and events where I talk about compost, veg growing, chicken keeping, cooking, preserving and sustainable living. I also run crafts workshops and Forest School/outdoor play sessions in our wood.

We try to live a more self sufficient lifestyle here, as best we can, while still having a comfortable life and lots of fun.


To learn more about us click on the About Compostwoman tab and remember to click on the photos to make them full size!


Sunday 29 July 2012

We don't dig peat - do we?


The chair of the government’s Sustainable Growing Media Task Force (SGMTF), Dr Alan Knight, has recently published his chair’s report and draft ‘road map’, Towards Sustainable Growing Media.

I must admit I do wonder exactly why we need a "road map" about a move towards sustainable growing when, as John Walker has so eloquently written about on his blog  a growing number of gardeners have already found their way to using reliable and consistent peat-free composts with growing success.

But, regardless, this is the interesting bit.

“The Chairman is inviting feedback from all interested parties, whether Task Force members or not, by 30 September 2012. He would like your views on any part or all of the report and would particularly welcome details of specific actions that individuals or organisations would be willing to undertake that can be added to the roadmap. There are no specific questions to be answered and this is not a Government consultation.”
Feedback should be sent by email to the Secretariat: growingmedia@defra.gsi.gov.uk
I am not quite sure if this was the intention, but effectively this is an open invitation for we gardeners and growers to have our say on the issue of peat free growing.

So, if you are one of the many gardeners who grow beautiful flowers and veg without the use of peat, or just don't agree with the destruction of peat bog eco systems to provide peat as a growing medium, perhaps you would consider telling them so?

Just a thought

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