Photo: Knoll Gardens
By Alison Murphy, Peat-free Partnership
Knoll Gardens hasn’t always been peat-free. Having first opened in the 1970’s, it wasn’t until after Neil Lucas and his team took over the garden in 1994 that they were persuaded by Dorset Wildlife Trust to make the switch. “It was [Dorset Wildlife Trust] who put the thought into our minds, and we started the road that we’ve continued on ever since,” says Neil. In the time before Neil and his family bought Knoll, Neil had been working at a health trust as a gardener. So, rather than having a specific focus on sustainable gardening, they were concerned with the benefits of green spaces for health and wellbeing. Over time, though, the connections that have been found between nature and wellbeing have only grown, with evidence pointing to sustainable gardening as a beneficial practice for mental and physical health.
“I think most people who have been connected with gardening in one form or another or sure I even say plants is perhaps more accurate,” says Neil. “I’ve soon felt the value of that therapeutic, beneficial effect. “Whether you’re a nursery or garden or whatever, contact with the natural world, and in this particular case, plants, is always a good thing. I think it’s deep in our nature.”
Neil says it was opening the nursery that made him and his team more aware of gardening with sustainability in mind.
Photo: Knoll Gardens
“When we came here, we started the nursery- you obviously have to grow stuff in something. And so, I suppose that's when you start to become aware that you might be using more resources than either you need, or that we can afford.”
More than 20 years of peat-free growing later, Knoll Gardens are well established as leading grass specialists and continue to support people and wildlife through their work.
Miscanthus Cindy (Photo: Knoll Gardens)
Many growers feel making the change to peat-free growing is a lot of trouble – or, worse, impossible or unrealistic. But right from the start, Neil says, he didn’t encounter many problems at all. In fact, looking back on those initial stages of switching to peat-free growing media, Neil says he came across just a few initial difficulties – “only about twice a week for the first two years. I don’t think it’s that bad.”
Though they didn’t realise it at the time, Neil’s team now believe the key difference they encountered was in their watering regime.
Through extensive trials research into peat-free growing media over the last couple of years, we now know that peat-free composts usually require less water, but more frequently compared to peat-based products.
“Peat growers are probably trying to treat a peat-free mix with the same kind of regime and that just doesn’t work in the same way,” says Neil.
His advice to growers who are hesitant about making the transition to peat-free is to “let the plants do the talking”.
“Any kind of regular routine that you used to do – water twice a week, whatever – just throw that all on one side. Look at the plants with fresh eyes and be guided by their reaction.”
"It's entirely doable, but you need to have an open, fresh approach. It's no good looking backwards. You have to look forwards and peat-free is forwards. It's as simple as that.”
Pennisetum Black Arrow (Photo: Knoll Gardens)
While there isn’t an official breeding programme at Knoll Gardens, a small percentage of the plants in their gardens are a result of trials which produce amazing new grasses. This summer Neil launched Pennisetum ‘Black Arrow’, a fountain grass that had been in trials for about a decade. This ten-year process is fairly standard for their trials to ensure that the team is confident in a new plant’s quality by the time it is introduced to the gardens at Knoll.
“We like to think that we have taken sufficient time that when we talk about the new plant,” says Neil. “We have every expectation that it will do well because it’s done well for us.”
The trials at Knoll are a testament to the work that Neil and his team have been doing – and proof you can produce incredible results, and very special new plants, without having to use peat.
Photo: Knoll Gardens
For around the last 20 years, Knoll Gardens has been offering Grass Masterclasses in which they take groups on tours around the garden and talk about the plants in situ. This is a wonderful opportunity for gardeners and enthusiasts to benefit from Neil’s expertise on different groups of grasses, where and how to best plant certain grasses, and more. It’s not uncommon for these sessions to cover peat-free compost as one of many topics. The 2024 Grass Masterclasses have just come to an end, but according to Neil, they’ll have next year’s dates up on the website by Christmas.
The team at Knoll have just finished creating the new Dragon Garden, which was just completed last year. The garden was replanted in a ‘Prairie’ style and features the stunning new Pennisetum ‘Black Arrow’. Next up on their list of projects is the redevelopment of their Bark Circle borders over the next couple of years to create a meadow-style garden as another showcase for Neil’s beloved grasses and perennials.
Businesses like Knoll Gardens are setting the standard for sustainable gardening that creates beautiful gardens while still protecting our environment. Digging up peat to use in our gardens not only devastates a unique habitat: it also releases greenhouse gases and contributes directly to climate change. As Neil very succinctly put it: “We should stop using peat, full stop.” It doesn’t get much clearer than that.
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