You may have spotted the news a couple of months ago when the government announced that peat sales for amateur gardening would be halted by 2024. I haven't brought out the bunting for many political decisions recently, given the recent attack on nature (see the latest here), but on this occasion, I at least cheered. At last! well done! It has been a long time coming after the 'voluntary' target for compost retailers set in 2011 failed so dismally.
I can't remember who was Prime Minister when the ban was announced, it is all such a blur, but we can thank the Rt Hon Lord Beynon and the officials at Defra for finally getting that piece of legislation through - plus of course all the many people who have campaigned so relentlessly for this to happen over so many decades now. Glorious peat: it belongs in the ground where it formed, cleaning water, storing carbon and providing such as wonderful home for so much rare and threatened wildlife.
On a recent trip to Norfolk, I had the pleasure of dropping in at another of the laudable plant nurseries that have been determinedly and successfully growing all their plants peat-free for years. This is The Plantsmans Preference nursery near Diss, which grows all sorts of plants that are wildlife-friendly.
It was the tail-end of the season, so most of the flowers had gone over, but it was still kid-in-sweet-shop heaven to see such a range of plants growing so healthily.
The peat ban - for which I have yet to find an actual date in 2024 when it kicks in - does mean there are still probably two growing seasons ahead when it will still be legal for bags of peat to be sold. Remember, the golden rule is that if it doesn't say peat-free on the bag, then it isn't, no matter what other tempting words the manufacturers use to make it sound good for the environment.
So, here's to a happy peat-free gardening future. And a ray of hope in the darkness.
PS. Oh, and you know how I get distracted by plants I see that are packing in the wildlife? Well, at The Plantsmans Preference, they had a grand specimen of the Seven Sons Flower Tree, Heptacodium, which is a marvel for bees in autumn.
Sadly, it was a bit too big to fit in my boot.
If you want to drop by my RSPB wildlife gardening blog, it is updated every Friday, and I'd love to see you there - www.rspb.org.uk/community/blogs/hfw