Now what are we going to use instead of peat?

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Peat in planting mixes: It's a quandary, all right! 
 

No getting around it, it's a limited resource

from an important ecosystem on the edge.

It's an eye opener even to consider the energy involved in transfering this material around the continent. It's far too wet to be shipped when it's first scooped out of a bog -- perhaps in Ontario, so energy is expended there to dry it and bale it. Then, its entire trail to market will be redolent of gasoline exhaust.

So even if it was as common as dirt -- which it is not --it's loaded with ecological expense. We're glad to be taking a look at it even in "small" quantities in potting mixes because it's a big little topic to tackle.

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