How Dalefoot is saving the earth with clever composts and peat bog restoration

Whether they are producing Dalefoot, an organic peat-free compost brand much favoured by gardeners, restoring ravaged peat bogs to carbon capturing glory or raising rare breed ewes, spreading good is second nature to entrepreneurs and Chelsea Flower Show gold medal winning icons Jane Barker and Simon Bland. With a compost formula that's a slow release nutrient mix of harvested, potassium-rich bracken, hydrating wool fleece and herbal booster comfrey, there's no need for additional fertilisers and this operation is now part of a unique group business model the couple have developed. Underpinned by the environmental science expertise of Barker, a University of Cumbria professor, and Bland's as a seventh-generation Cumbrian hill farmer, from its Penrith site the company makes and despatches a wide range of compost blends. These cover most gardening needs from sowing seeds and growing veg to clay busting best seller Lakeland Gold. Sales are direct to consumers and through retailers, garden centres and nurseries while folk in the Falklands are also fans. Harvesting bracken makes good use of a "highly invasive plant that has a negative impact on sensitive habitats", says Barker while composted wool offers an alternative use for a commodity that once powered the British carpet industry and "helps the threatened culture of hill farming", Bland explains.

Coupled with fully-traceable is their Barker & Bland venture. One of the UK's most experienced peatland restorers with 45,000 hectares revived to date, the business reverses the damage caused by extraction, over grazing and climate change through its partnerships with environmental heavyweights such as Natural England, NatureScot, the RSPB and wildlife trusts.

Healthy peatlands can store 20 times more carbon than trees and "restore the bog from within the bog is our ethos. We hold a patent for an innovative method of bare peat restoration, the most carbon emitting part of a degrading bog, so instead of carbon release into the atmosphere there is carbon storage," declares Barker. Their work planting sphagnum moss on fragile landscapes such as blanket bogs in Scotland and the north of England is painstaking and complex. "We shun carbon hungry helicopters and use our own specifically designed and fabricated machinery," says Barker. "Engineering specialist equipment lighter than a human footprint is needed because surfaces are so delicate." A £2.1 million group turnover is forecast for 2026/27 and a lighter pellet format compost is in the pipeline. "This will save on plastic and transport costs," explains Bland and he and Barker consider a move into river restoration.

Future proofing is now a top priority as the business works with the RSPB to deliver bog restoration across all fronts. "Biodiversity, water quality, flood management, not just carbon but deep-rooted change not sticking plaster," spells out Barker whose top compost-buying tip is to avoid those containing low nutrient coir.