[smc]

hi,  what are peoples thoughts on it?  had a load delivered yesterday, i thought it was gonna be composte  sure i have read somewhere in-diffferent things about it

[solway cropper]

dig it into the plot if you don't have any home-grown compost to mix it with.

[Salmo]

If it is just peat it has no nutrients but will be an excellent soil conditioner.

You will need to add fertilizer to your soil/pots to feed the crops.

[BostonInbred]

Theres about 11 different grades of peat, varying from fine peats to coarse grade. to dark peat. It also makes a difference which peat bog it came off. Scottish bogs tend to be a darker coarser peat than the ones in the north west, and you will find the deeper it has been harvested from the darker it is.

This is because peat material is either fibric, hemic, or sapric. Fibric peats from the surface are the least decomposed, and comprise intact fiber. Hemic peats are somewhat decomposed, and sapric peat, from deep layers, are the most decomposed.

The main point to note about most raw peat is that its fairly acidic, and  generally needs lime adding at around the rate of 4Kg/Cu/m to get the pH to the 6.0 - 7.0 range. You will also need to work in  a 14-7-7 fertiliser at a rate of about 1Kg per Cu/m to get the conductivity to about 600, and to build up the nitrogen, as most raw peat is nitrogen depleted.

What you will then have is the equivalent of a good quality retail growing media. Its a shame towork it into the ground, it wont add much nutrients, cheaper to grow a green manure instead.

If you want to open the mixture up to make it more airy (ie coarse), you will then need to work in about 20% nursery grade bark.

Raw peat as is is fabulous for growing Blueberry bushes in.

What exactly did you have delivered?

[smc]

just peat that got deliveredd my old pal, dont really know what type,  will just dig in with my green manures   thanks

[Babstreefern]

I bought a few bags of Irish Moss peat from the garden centre to plant my carnivorous plants in .  Apparently, they only survive in peat because its soo lacking in nourishment.  The plants get their food on the hoof - as they fly past.   And also, the plants need to be watered by rainwater, not tap water.  So hopefully, having this bed will cut down on the cabbage whites, and other pests

[upert]

somewhere some more rare bog land has been dug up :-(

[BostonInbred]

somewhere some more rare bog land has been dug up :-(

Nah, its a myth. In the UK we've still only managed to dig up 7% of all the peatland. Ireland is different, because they burn it, they've dug up huge amounts.