Traditionally, bracken has been used as an animal winter bedding material in the Lakes, which was then spread on the land in spring to fertilise the fields. It is now added to the compost to boost the microbial diversity, increase trace minerals and boost the overall efficiency of the final product. Not only is it 100% peat-free and organic, but it also contains a specially blended mix of nutrients that provides a strong germination rate and a balanced first feed. The gathering of flocks has become very difficult through waist high bracken stands and this very aggressive plant competes with other native vegetation to the extent that other plants fail and available grazing is reduced. Provides important habitats – peat bogs provide unique, natural habitats for many scare species as well as a wide range of nationally and internationally important flora and fauna.

On the market today no other growing media has such a naturally high concentration of nutrients, for improving plant size and quality. I first came across Dalefoot Compost at RHS Chelsea in 2015 and felt rather ashamed that despite living in the Lake District I had very little knowledge of the company or their products. Producing the compost is a win-win situation because not only is Dalefoot helping the growing number of gardeners who want to switch to peat free, the compost also finds a novel use for British wool – good news for struggling sheep farmers. I have planted up one pot but intend to get some identical plants and 2 planters to try a comparison with 'ordinary' compost. Traditionally, here in the Lake District, bracken has been used as an animal winter bedding material, which was then spread on the land in Spring to fertilise the fields.Double strength wool compost can stun s way it wil not stun the plants with nutrientsof a high fertiliser strength so may need to be diluted with homemade or spent compost to a ratio of 50:50.

It also works really well directly into gardening beds – we’ve had great success with it in raised beds. The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.

On a global scale, the remaining areas of near-natural peatland) contains more than 550 gigatonnes of carbon.

By retaining and establishing peat bogs we can not only help reduce our emissions but also start to capture the carbon that is being released into the environment in other forms. This project is supported by the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) for which Defra is the Managing Authority, part funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe investing in rural areas.The idea for this compost came from the old gardening books that talked of wool’s natural ability to hold water to itself, and provide long-term nutrient release. Wool compost™ is farm-made on a traditional hill farm, Dalefoot, in the small valley of Heltondale in the Lake District National Park. I can safely say that the seed compost has worked for me - I have good healthy baby plants, which I most certainly did not have with the previous organic compost.