I HAVE a dream - quite a humble one - that Stroud becomes the first town where no one buys compost with peat in it.

Peat extraction releases carbon, diminishes biodiversity and causes flooding.

All pretty bad.

This has been known for years and yet over two million cubic metres of peat are bought every year in the UK and the average compost bag is 60 per cent peat.

I have tried to persuade retailers not to sell it but they respond with seductive  statements of future intent.

I am waiting for the first brave branch manager to break ranks.

However, the real persuasive power is in our hands.

Peat-free compost is available in many local outlets, you just have to find it behind the pallet-loads of bad stuff.

Maybe slightly more expensive but that’s a small sacrifice for the environment and the seedlings won’t mind as they grow just as well without peat.

As Monty Don says ‘There is no garden, however beautiful, that justifies the scale of environmental damage or contribution to climate change that peat use causes.’ If you share my dream, thank you for your support.

You could also write to the garden centres and supermarkets as I did and maybe chat to the neighbours.

There must be many new lockdown gardeners who are unaware of the damage their compost could be doing.

Charles Tongue

Stroud