It sounds like a tempest in a teapot brewing here. LOL After the dust settles, I would use the stuff IF it really helps...along with the much shorter lasting things like leaves.

I googled around and it seems like the "ban peat" movement is a European thing where they use peat on an industrial scale to fuel power plants and peat bogs are used up on a large scale. Some European countries even classify peat as a fossil fuel, which is logical I guess.

I don't know exactly what my friend read, but I'll bet it stems from this European sentiment. In this area of Northern Minn-Wis-Mich we have cubic miles of peat and essentially none of it is being used. But it does bring up the question of somebody's future brainstorm to "mine" peat up here for fuel. In Europe they sometimes mix it with woodwaste and we could do that here too. I wouldn't advocate it, but probably it's only a matter of time until somebody does in this current search for alternative energy.

I also use leaves and pine straw too, but there is a LOT of peat available free for the digging and it's nice stuff too.

We have a similar situation, with natural springs that come up, creating massive amounts of organic matter in the creeks/bogs (cattails, watercress, algae), which decay into wet, black muck. I don't think we have any 'peat', per se. Ours replaces itself quickly if dug when ditches get cleaned out, etc., though I've not used any for the garden. We have a 60 year old pond on our acreage that has slowly been filled with organic muck that needs cleaned. I think depending on the source of your bog muck, it may be renewable.

Cheers,
Michelle

Hi Michelle,

It sounds nice there!

The peat here is renewable by my defintion. Leaves fall every year and adds a new layer. I have seen pieces of wood cut and left in the swamp and in a few years they are covered up with organic material that will turn to peat.

I think here there is both peat and muck. Some of it "looks" like very rich black dirt.

It is more than safe and reasonable to use in your garden. I wouldn't worry about the small amount you are going to use.

Is the swampy bog on your private property? If not, do you have permission to dig there?

And then I wonder about your compost pile? How big is it?, Could it be bigger to meet your needs for organic material?

I guess I have more questions than answers.

Joepyeweed,

Yes, the swampy bog is on one corner of my land near by my new garden area for potatoes, and my neighbor says I can take some from his land too. The end result will be a little frog pond, esp. when the swamp gets dry in summer.

I already have a compost pile, and a pretty big one too, but when you are talking about improving a 25 X 35 foot area of almost pure sand the already naturally composted peat/muck is very attractive. I have used smaller amounts of it before to make potting soil and put around my cedar trees and current bushes and it works wonders on sand. They really respond to an application of peat, almost like magic it seems.

the_virginian,

Yes, I'm realizing too that the worry about bogs is not from a person with a shovel digging a little peat for gardening purposes, but large industrial scale users and briquetting plants. But the hysteria (if I may call it that) made my friend swear off using peat in any form, and she now refuses to buy it from a garden center and was rather alarmed and critical that I would dare molest my swampy bog area with a shovel to dig it myself. I doubt that she will change her mind no matter what I say as she is prone to "causes" and saving the world, altho she drives more and uses more gasoline than anyone else I know :-)

The guys on the Victory Garden show say to use peat moss because it last a very long time in soil, because the soil bacteria will not digest it because it has no food value. If you live where there are deciduous trees those leaves that fall off them every year are a better, nutrient rich orgnaic matter for your soil then the non renewable peat moss ever will be. However if you have a lot of money to spend on peat moss and fertilizer you can add it to your soil, but understand the peat moss will really contribute nothing to the soil.

kimmsr,

You might be right about leaves and I don't doubt it. But please don't tell my cedar trees and current bushes that peat adds "nothing" to the soil. They respond to peat/muck surface applications like magic. Perhaps the vegetable garden is indifferent to peat and I'll find out.

Compost really isn't considered a food either, its a soil amendment...not a fertilizer.

I think you'll find the vegetable garden will really like the peat.

I, too, have a bit of swamp on my property, and I dug a frog pond in it for garden interest. The soil I removed turned out to be fantastic in nearby beds. I wouldn't have done this if it looked like I would be damaging the area for plant and wildlife; the changes were made so that I could have a safe (free of ticks and poison ivy) path into and out of the swamp area, so that I could appreciate the plants and do a bit of gardening. In the process I have become enthusiastic about wetland habitats and native plants. Perhaps if you approach your project in a similar manner, you could convince your friend that you aren't out to destroy your wetland.

Here is a link that might be useful: My very tiny frog-pond

stoloniferous,

That's a very nice woods area & mini frog pond. It looks like you have a lot of fun there. How are the ticks and mosquitoes right now?

Well, I started digging peat yesterday before it gets too hot and buggy. It's very dark colored peat, almost black, maybe it's actually muck. Not sure. It has a squishy consistency almost like mud. There are pieces of wood in it so my guess it was mostly formed by leaves, bark, needles, twigs, and is woody peat, one of the better types. I fill 2 buckets by hand using a rake and spade and then carry them to a little garden wagon and dump them out. Then I use a hand cultivator tool and sort of rake thru it breaking up clumps and picking out the chunks of wood and roots. It's very clean and nice looking stuff. There is a little water in the bottom where I am digging, so I work around the edges and backwards. It's amazing how much peat you can dig from a very small small area. I can already see the outlines of the little frog pond to be. The outlines will be irregular so it looks natural and inviting to wildlife.

Some of the other areas where I had read about concerns for peat bogs were in the higher altitudes in the rockies and some of the colder areas of Canada. The problems with these areas were the relative cold and the LONG time that it took for the peat bogs to replenish.

Again the main culprit was industrial use. But if you add up all us little guys (which you wont in your little bog) we make the industrial use.

Historically peat bogs have long been a huge source of energy for the Irish. They cut "bricks", dried them and burned them for home heating. Now, with industrial harvesting techniques, they find fantastically preserved archaeological items in them (like 700 year old dead bodies and religious manuscripts).

Steve

I wouldn't worry about peat lands being depleted. In Canada peat is accumulating faster than it is being removed so there does not seem to be a problem with supply.

IMO what you are doing in your bog is a good thing for your garden and will not harm the bog.

Here is a link that might be useful: about peat reserves in Canada

Reading about how good a job the Canadian Peat Moss Industry is doing by that industry is kind of like reading about how ggod things are in China from a report by the leadership of China. Would they lie to you?

Thanks for the additional comments.

Okay, I've got a peat experiment going on now in my new potato patch!

My last 25 ft potato row was not planted yet when I hauled my first load of peat out of the swamp. So I dumped it out by my potato garden and used part of it to ammend the soil in that last unplanted row. First I put fertilizer down (10-10-10) in the bottom of the trench and then spread about 2-3 inches of peat on top of that. Then I hoed it up and mixed the peat into the sandy soil a little bit. Then I planted the row with potato seed, watered it well, and then mulched it with newspaper & pine straw.

Out of the 4 rows I now have one with peat mixed into the native very sandy soil. We shall see in time if this small addition of peat makes any difference this season in the growth and production of my potato crop.

Although it comes from an industry source, here's something interesting about using peat & compost in the garden:

"Peat moss makes your compost more effective because peat and compost do two different things. Peat moss restructures the soil, whereas compost provides nutrients. By blending the two you can reduce compostÂs tendency to compact the soil, and thus allow more water, air and nutrients to reach plant roots. In addition, the peat moss and compost combination helps retain moisture in garden beds, allowing gardeners to water less frequently. Peat also extends the life of compost in soil by four to five times."

Reading about how good a job the Canadian Peat Moss Industry is doing by that industry is kind of like reading about how ggod things are in China from a report by the leadership of China. Would they lie to you?

Since that "industry" paper and policy was produced in partnership with Environment Canada, Ducks Unlimited, and the North American Wetlands Conservation Council, are you really trying to say that these groups are lying?

Or maybe it's that you don't want to acknowledge it.

Would someone that wants to sell you something tell you only the good stuff about it and leave out the bad stuff? Nah, they would never do that because people are inherantly honest and would never sell you something you do not need and does not do what you are told it will do and is highly destructive to the environment.

I don't know Kimm, it sure doesn't appear that the three groups sponsoring the info. stated in the attached link are corrupt or up to no good IMHO.

Do you have any papers on Canadian peat harvesting techniques that conclude they are damaging the environment?

http://www.gret-perg.ulaval.ca/Issuepap2.pdf

I mean an official wetlands conservation organization concludes Canadian peat harvesting is sustainable. What makes you think they would tell lies about something that is in direct contradiction with their mission?

It's a conspiracy that involves the all-powerful Canadian Peat Moss Association, various environmental watchdog groups, various wetlands conservation groups, the Canadian government, and the universities.

The peat moss industry has Ducks Unlimited in their pockets.

Probably Ducks Unlimited (and ducks themselves) enjoy the large scale harvesting of peat in Canada because it creates open water where sphagnum moss had filled in the basin with peat deposits leaving very little or no open water. (Is that the same thing as muskeg?) In time these harvested basins will fill back in with peat just like the first time around. The peat-forming process itself is not destroyed and immediately resumes when the harvesting is over and water levels are restored.

There are many different peat bogs with different kinds of plants. Here in Alberta we have access to sphagnum peat that is sold in compressed bales. Very good stuff for seed starting and containers.

Also there are sedge and hypnum moss bogs in our area that are harvested. This is a more pH neutral material and is darker in colour. Some people like this this product better since they feel it lasts longer.

Here is a link that might be useful: Muskeg