Peat bogs are essential to the environment, holding twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests. But in the UK, 80% are damaged, most of what is extracted is used in horticulture – and some campaigners fear the problem is getting worse’I don’t see how I can possibly do my job and eat mushrooms,’ says Sally Nex, a campaign advocate for the Peat-Free Partnership. ‘An awful lot of the food you buy in the supermarket is grown in peat: field mushrooms and little button mushrooms, salads and many brassicas, herbs in pots … all of those have started in peat.’I’m taken aback. I’ve bought peat-free compost for years, but I’d never considered ‘hidden’ peat. ‘I would imagine that most people are buying peat-free compost at the moment – certainly, you only have to go into a garden centre to see the amount of peat-free options you now have,’ says Nex. ‘But you may not realise that an awful lot – probably most – of the plants that are on sale in that garden centre are also grown in peat.’ Continue reading…