By Lynne Adkins

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — As the English government works to protect its sensitive peat bogs, gardeners in the Philadelphia area could be impacted.

Great Britain is phasing out the use of peat to protect the ecologically sensitive areas according to Jenny Rose Carey, director of the arboretum at Temple Ambler.

“Because of the ecosystem, it’s akin to the rain forest,” says Jenny Rose Carey, director of the arboretum at Temple Ambler, “so they’re calling the peat bogs in England, at least I’ve seen them described as our Amazon.”

If you use bags of peat moss to improve your soil and nourish your plants, Carey says it might be a good idea to start looking for alternatives.

“Coir the husks from coconuts,” she says. “(It) is a bit more renewable because they can grow more coconuts and presumably when they harvest the coconuts the husks would be thrown away, and coir based composts are becoming more popular.

Carey also suggests gardeners use leaf mulch and matter from their compost pile.