A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – March 7, 2022 – Brian Jackson on Peat AlternativesA Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – March 7, 2022 – Brian Jackson on Peat Alternatives

<p>Gardeners have increasingly heard the call to reduce or eliminate their use of peat moss, the most familiar ingredient in seed-starting mixes and potting soils—one that a lot of us have long relied on. But peat is not sustainable, and its harvest releases substantial CO2, a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. So what to use instead? </p> <p>That's our topic today with <a href="https://cals.ncsu.edu/horticultural-science/people/bejacks2/">North Carolina State University Professor Brian Jackson</a>, an expert in soilless growing media or soilless substrates, as they are also called.   Brian Jackson is a professor in the<a href="http://catalog.ncsu.edu/undergraduate/agriculture-life-sciences/horticultural-science/"> Department of Horticultural Science at North Carolina State</a>, and director of the university's Horticultural Substrate Laboratory. He's one of perhaps five U.S. scientists at public universities studying these materials and their role in horticulture and agriculture.</p>