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Geraniums are among the hardiest and easiest summer flowers to care for. They bloom for months with minimal care and can be overwintered. If you want to garden even more sustainably, plant your geraniums in peat-free compost.
What's in peat-free compost?
In peat-free substrates, a combination of different renewable materials replaces the peat. These can include wood fibres, humus, composted plant matter or very fine coconut fibres. Compost from your household organic waste bin is not used. Some peat-free soils also contain clay, which is good for water retention and can store nutrients.
These are renewable raw materials that are suitable for potting compost, but they also have slightly different properties to peat, which has mostly been used as a base material for conventional potting compost up till now.
Tips for gardening without peat
💡 Peat-free compost holds water differently to peat-based versions, due to its ingredients. It also contains many more micro-organisms, making it more biologically active. This has consequences.
👉 You need to look after geraniums in a peat-free alternative differently to those in conventional compost. We explain how.
How to water geraniums in peat-free compost
The ideal time to water your geraniums is when the compost is warm and dry to the touch. Test this by sticking a finger in a few cm. This finger test is always important, but especially so when you start gardening with peat-free compost.
Why focus more on watering?
The pores in peat-free compost are distributed differently to those in peat-based soils, so they hold water differently. This is most obvious on the surface, which dries out more quickly. As a result, the compost sometimes looks drier than it actually is. On the other hand, peat-free composts also retain less moisture overall. 💦
👉 That’s why you’ll probably have to reach for the watering can more often.
It's all about the right timing!
Fortunately, geraniums are hardy. They can cope well with short periods of drought, although they flower more profusely with regular watering. However, they don’t like to be waterlogged at all.
With water storage boxes, the roots supply themselves from the reservoir. Make sure it’s always full.
Peat-free gardening and demand-driven fertilisation
With peat-free composts, the nutrient supply is depleted more quickly than with soils containing peat. The higher turnover is due to peat-free composts being much more biologically active than their conventional counterparts with a higher peat content.
What soil life has to do with fertilising
Biological activity influences the availability of nutrients, because it is the soil organisms that make organically bound nutrient compounds available to plants. Read more about this in our ‘Fertilising geraniums’ post.
The micro-organisms also bind a certain amount of nitrogen in their cells, which the plants cannot then utilise. 🔗
How to get the nitrogen supply under control
😀 An extra helping of hornmeal can compensate for the increased nitrogen consumption. Mix it into the compost when planting!
😀 Start adding fertiliser four weeks after planting if you are not using a slow-release fertiliser. This is easiest with liquid feed.
⚠️ Fast-acting nitrogen fertilisers, such as ammonium nitrate won’t help maintain the nutrient balance in the long term.
⚠️ More slow-release fertiliser won’t help either, because you’ll be giving your geraniums too much potassium and phosphorus.
Here’s a more in-depth article on how to use liquid fertiliser and what options are available.
Tips for planting balcony boxes with geraniums and peat-free compost
- Check the drainage holes in the container are clear so excess water can drain away.
- Provide a drainage layer by filling the bottom of the container with 2cm of coarse gravel or expanded clay.
- Before planting, place the geraniums and their pots in water until the root ball is completely saturated.
- Plant the geraniums at the same height as they were in the pot. At the same time, mix the hornmeal we talked about earlier into the compost.
- Don’t forget to water after planting so the roots make contact with the compost, which they need to continue growing.
Specialist geranium compost best meets the needs of this beautiful South African plant.
💡 Peat-free compost is biologically active. This is good for the plants, but also means the quality of the compost changes if you store it for too long, so only buy as much as you can use in one season.
Geranium planting made easy
Perfect conditions in a balcony box are the basis for a summer full of flowers. Here we explain how to plant balcony boxes with geraniums like a pro. Step by step. With a shopping list. And there’s plenty of background knowledge too. Read on, get stuck in, enjoy!
Does it have to be peat-free?
Low-peat composts contain less peat. They can be an alternative to peat-free versions in the transitional period, as their properties are more like the peat-based soils you’re used to.
Organic doesn't equal peat-free.
In addition to ‘peat-free’, an organic label sometimes appears on composts. Organic doesn’t necessarily mean the soil is peat-free.
Organic compost is certified as produced in accordance with organic farming guidelines. It may still contain peat.
✅ You can garden without peat using compost that says ‘peat-free’ on the packaging. However, this doesn’t mean it also fulfils organic guidelines, but there are products on the market that carry both labels.
Ultimately, the choice of compost you plant your geraniums in today depends on your personal preferences and your environmental awareness. Sooner or later, potting compost in the gardening aisle will be peat-free, so why wait?
Why not try it out in a direct comparison and gain your own experience with peat-free gardening by planting geraniums in peat-free compost in one balcony box and using conventional potting soil in the other?
Above all, it’s important to use sustainable compost that’s well-made and contains good raw ingredients.
Just remember the appropriate care and watering – then your geraniums will grow and bloom like crazy, even in peat-free compost. 🥰 🌸🌎