A Year In The Garden

Well what a year. When so much has happened and there has been so much disaster, sadness and loss writing about the garden sometimes feels a little trite, but as it’s where everything is anchored here, it feels like a good place to start and to set the tone for next year.

This year was the year I officially fell out of love with the tiny Bristol garden. Having our landlady sell up from underneath us rocked us at our core. That garden sustained us both through shielding, supported us both through mental health issues and had been our sanctuary for four years and to leave it was heartbreaking. But, and here’s the thing, sometimes a good thing is just around the corner and the garden here in our new rental in Wales is glorious. Of course it comes with it’s challenges but we are really lucky and looking forward to a year ahead when we will be able to really get on with making the garden beautiful.

My little Welsh herb garden

Moving the tiny garden was amusing in many ways. The pots that made up that garden, filled it with it’s riot of colour and plant material, and made it at times feel just a bit claustrophobic, took up such a tiny space here we thought we had inadvertently left pots behind. It was a joy to dig holes in the actual ground and get plants out of pots and into the soil, and that will continue over winter as I plant out the roses once they are dormant, and find places for the hemerocallis and dahlias in the spring. We have discovered so much since we have been here, and mainly that the previous tenant was definitely not a gardener, so a lot of this autumn has been taken up with setting a framework, watching how the garden behaves, where the light falls and sorting out composting areas and creating a no dig veg garden.

The garden on the day we moved in in August

But of course my own garden is not my only garden and I have been so lucky this year to work predominantly on the space at Edible Bristol we are calling Cultivation Place, where we are set to do all our workshops and courses, as well as having a small flower farm, a small market garden and our nursery. This space is two and a half allotments in size, and is being run to no dig and agroecological principles. I’ve been teaching our How To Grow courses there this year, and next year there will be a full programme of seasonally appropriate opportunities for people to get involved with.

I have to say running the flower farm has been an incredible opportunity, and one that I have adored. My roots will always be in productive gardening, and whilst it can seem that flowers might be a little bit of a distraction, they have been a joy in a year when distractions have been needed. However, getting the poly tunnel productive and seeing the outside spaces also filling up with food that would go out to communities is also a total joy and an honour to be able to achieve.

So here we are looking at next year, and likely all wondering what it will bring, with levels of uncertainty and anxiety and a new respect for the outside world and nature for many. And of course we can’t know what is to come outside in the world we can’t control, but taking a breath and starting in the garden is a way we can all connect more with the seasons, with nature and with the food we eat.

So Merry Christmas and a happy new year and I look forward to seeing you in a garden in the year to come……

Edible Bristol’s Cultivation Place

Can we demand a peat free future?

On Saturday of last week the governments consultation on peat in horticulture was published. I was pleased to see it is an open consultation that everyone can fill in, and whilst there will always be the naysayers who say it’s impossible to grow without peat, their voices, whilst still loud, are being questioned more than ever. It was sad to see an open letter published by a group who believe peat is necessary, but it sounds like the dying cries of a group who know they are on the wrong side in terms of not just sustainable gardening practices, but also in personal ethics, although we must, hard as it might be, see that a ban could impact their businesses and livelihoods. Of course if they engaged with peat free, and invested in a peat free future they might not feel so attacked. The wonderful Pumpkin Beth has written a reply to their letter which you can read here.

The first thing I would ask is that everyone responds to the consultation which I have linked here. It’s important that all the voices of gardening and horticulture are heard, so please find some time to respond if you are able.

However, the second thing I continually am hearing, and if I am honest is frustrating me too, is why can’t we just have an immediate ban? And whilst I hear that frustration I am going to try to explain so please do bear with me. I am just going to caveat this with the absolute understanding that whilst these are good reasons, it still is deeply disingenuous when we are all so aware that by last year there was originally meant to be an eighty percent reduction in the amateur market of peat based product usage. It still makes me scream that so many people worked so hard to change their growing methods, to find good peat free products and that so many gardeners did the same, knowing it was the right thing to do, and yet the industry effectively ignored us. But we need to focus on the future and the only way to do that is to move out of that frustration mode and into positive solution finding. Easier said than done and we will all find that a challenge but it’s necessary for us to ensure the future of the industry is green. Horticulture is worth over two billion pounds to the economy and as such it is vital we get it on track and then demand it stays not just sustainable, but also regenerative, and focusing on the modern day crises it can support to avert, or at least support.

I just want here to talk about waste streams. We are of course totally aware of the aminopyralid issues that have caused chaos in the allotments and market gardening world. If you’re not aware or would like to know more Steph Hafferty wrote a piece abut it which you can read here. But waste it appears is more complicated than just chemical contamination issues. It seems that green waste is often contaminated with other things like plastics, glass, animal waste and other delights, and as such is most likely to be sent to anaerobic digestion rather than composting units. This is allowed at rates of three to five percent so one ask needs to be to local authorities to clean up their green waste streams and stop this allowable contamination. This will need governmental support but it would go a long way to make green waste a better option to replace some of the million cubic metres of peat we use today.

But more than that The government needs to help unlock ‘waste streams’, specifically looking at anaerobic digestion waste, fibres from farm crops, ground up timber residues including chipboard, wool, and filter deposits from water treatment plants.Again this will help to replace the 2 million cubic metres of peat used in the UK and prevent the other waste products above going into landfill. It is madness that we are sending organic matter to landfill. As these organic materials break down they are adding to multiple issues when they ought to be part of the solution. Especially when we hear of farmers burning fleeces because they can’t find a decent market for them-as gardeners we need to agitate for much better, and faster.

But of course we all have personal waste streams and local authorities over the last decade or so have made it increasingly easy to recycle all of that conveniently by using their systems. However, and this is a vital point, if we are to really create a peat free future, as gardeners and growers we too must create circular systems and grow our own composts, mix our own potting mixes and create our own mulches. However small your space, we can all do this, whether using wormeries, bokashi bins or composting daleks and pallet compost bins, the tiniest space can make at least some of it’s own compost and soil conditioner. It might not be the glamorous end of gardening but it’s certainly one of the best ways to get your garden not just beautiful and productive but also regenerative.

Can we make next year the one where the gardening public makes it clear to the industry that we demand a sustainable future I wonder?

Peat-Are We Back Where We Started?

Last week it was quietly announced that a new bill was being introduced to the Seanad, the Irish parliament, that will allow continued extraction of Irish peat for horticulture, because the peat that was being imported from Latvia and Spain has been found to not be of such high quality……

This as I see it, presents a position that really has not changed since the the UK government asked for a voluntary 80% reduction in peat use in 2011, in that rather than looking at and investing in alternatives, the peat industry as a whole is still convinced that we cannot grow without peat. And with this we need to urgently ask questions. There are market forces at work here, with most peat based compost manufacturers having long leases on the peatlands, or indeed owning them. In 2011 a rep from one of these companies quite forcibly told me that a ban would never happen because their lobbyists would ensure it didn’t, and still we see the myths perpetuated at that time rolling around the horticulture industry which seems to be stuck and refusing to understand the severity of the issue. Peatlands are vital carbon sinks when they are healthy, but when they are not, they are the opposite and leaching carbon into the atmosphere.

So why are we where we are and why is the peat debate still raging?

Well it has become political and therefore there is debate where facts are being ignored and myths spread because, and this is a bold statement I know, lobbyists are lobbying for the market and not taking into account the climate and biodiversity crisis. And whilst most of the big peat based compost companies are now offering a peat free option, they are generally of poor quality, and there is no education about using peat free compost, with gardeners then expecting peat free composts to act in the same way as peat. Which of course it does not. Just as different peat based composts are far from all the same, peat free compost needs a different watering regime and a different feeding regime if you are growing in pots.

But what the peat free sector also needs is an understanding from the gardening and horticulture industry, that peat is no longer an acceptable or ethical component of any growing media. All of the wildlife trusts, the RSPB, FOE and so many others have worked tirelessly on campaigns to stop peat extraction and moorland burning, and yet still we hear the same old excuses that “horticulture doesn’t use that much”, “why should the UK be the only place banning peat”, “nothing works as well” etc etc etc. The list of excuses is endless, and might I add tiring. These are literally excuses and not reasons, made by people who again are market focused and refusing to see the bigger picture. Whilst this was understandable in 2011, as no one likes change, there has been over a decade now for compost manufacturers to invest in a peat free future, rather than carry on with their heads in the sand, or in this case, in the peat.

And I understand that there is worry that whilst so much plant material arrives in the UK through Holland from Dutch suppliers, and nurseries all across the world, all of which are likely to use peat, that the UK market will collapse, because peat free alternatives are more expensive, but are we not known as the nation of gardeners and do we not hear the nations head gardener each week mention peat free compost? Are there not enough people, like the National Trust and English Heritage who are peat free, and proving that the market is there for peat free products? The RHS have stopped selling peat based growing media in their garden shops and Garden Organic have been singing the peat free song for years, and yet still we see accusations of the peat free campaign being simply a woke social media campaign from people within the horticulture industry. And this is amplified by publications such as Hort Week acting as if the need for peat can be debated, as if horticulture doesn’t see the need for reaching net zero emissions or even for being a green industry. The irony here is that as a sector horticulture is assumed as being green when in fact it’s far, far from it.

In the UK the government have promised a consultation on the use of peat in horticulture by the end of their term, in 2024, but is this enough? Who are they going to consult with? Because that is the most important thing about any consultation; making sure it is a consultation and not just a conversation with the industry that refuses to acknowledge the environment above the market. And at this point it’s important to remember that the market is important. Ornamental horticulture in 2017 made an estimated £24.2 billion contribution to the .Uk’s economy and it’s vital that doesn’t stop, but we need to find circular systems and create sustainability within the sector, and stop the vast inputs that go into it, much of which is deeply problematic to the climate to biodiversity. We desperately need to fight for the garden sector to become green………

Cors Caron Peat Bog, mid Wales

Stormy weather......

As I type the wind is whistling around the rooftops and I have spent the morning fighting to keep my little greenhouse upright having found it upside down this morning. Less than 2 weeks ago we saw storm Arwen force her way across the north of England, causing not just destruction and power outages that in some cases, almost 2 weeks later are still not reconnected, but also loss of life.

We have always had storms, and they generally arrive about this time of year, in autumn and midwinter, although in the last couple of years of course, we can add summer to that too. The Great Storm of 1987 will always be fixed in my mind as the first weather event that made me really stand up and take notice. Trains were cancelled and delayed, schools shut and we saw the loss of ancient woodland and trees that were centuries old, but most of all it caused disruption like nothing I certainly had ever known from a weather event.

And yet today, with storm Barra arriving, we will have seen two huge storms in a 2 week period. Yellow warnings of rain are forecast and in Ireland I have seen a red weather warning. My hedges are bending violently in the wind and the birds are hiding in them, tweeting with what I can only assume is fear. The greenhouse has already gone over and been picked up and resecured and we live in a sheltered place-I’m very glad I’m not on a rural hillside!

And of course we all know this is climate change in action. It’s still bizarrely warm, despite the winds, and whilst I’ve warn a coat, I’ve not felt the winter chill in my bones as yet. And of course we know that to turn back, or even just stall the effects of climate change we need enormous systemic change that can only come from politicians and leaders, as gardeners we can at the very least help.

Last Sunday was World Soil Day, and when it comes to climate mitigation we are learning more and more bout how vital soil is in the fight for the climate. Soil ecology, mixed plantings, green manures and ensuring the soil is covered and mulched in order to support it’s health are all things we can all do to ensure we look after our soils. Composting our own waste, growing from seed, and propagating, sharing our bounty, all are ways to support circular systems in the garden, be it large or small, a balcony or an estate. And this emphasis on healthy soil is vital, not just for good, healthy plants and crops, but because healthy soil supports carbon sequestration and slows the flow of flooding, amongst a huge tract of other positives.

I’d like to call for 2022 to be the year we focus on garden soils, on park soils and on shared soils in community gardens and allotment sites. Creating community composting sites, sharing skills around composting, biochar making and using green manures, even in no dig systems where they are great as a chop and drop opportunity, and meanwhile calling for better use of soil in our towns and cities, encouraging rain gardens and water capture on a huge scale.

And now I’m just going to check on that greenhouse!!

Hedges-creating community!!

I wrote a post on Instagram about hedges and thought I might extend it somewhat here.

A new garden has, of course, meant new boundaries and that includes hedges that stretch all around our 1920’s semi detached, which are far from being diverse in terms of plant species, and are very much based on Lonicera nitida, and are a bit, to say the least, congested with brambles. But in the few months we have been here what has come to the fore is that they are the centre of biodiversity in the garden, Sparrows, tits, robins, starlings, bees, wasps, moths, butterflies all regularly used the hedges as shelter in the summer and they are now full of birds, often loudly demanding the feeders re restocked!

But, and here is my question, why on earth did we stop growing hedges and start using fences? Hedges offer pathways through from garden to garden for all manor of creatures, the are safe havens for invertebrates and of course birds, and they are beautiful. Hedges provide food for humans as well as food for the garden ecosystem, they offer shade, refuge, homes. In high winds they bend rather than break,(mainly), and they can be rich with a diversity of plant species.

So this season coming I am going to increase the species in my hedges, add climbers and evergreens along with plants that will support us with food and medicine. Dog roses, honeysuckles, holly are amongst others on my wish list, adding to, rather than taking away where it has become a tad sparse.

But isn’t a hedge also a comment on society? They allow privacy but keep us connected, whereas fences don’t just cut us off, but they cut of nature in its stride. Hedges sequester carbon, support soil by using their roots to hold soil in place. And they add beauty where fences are not beautiful until you get climbers spreading across them, almost pretending to be, you guessed it, a hedge!! Hedges create community whereas fences by their very existence create division.

So my plea, or one of them, for 2022, is as gardeners and small growers, lets plant more hedges and make them as diverse as we can!!

Knowledge does not mean wisdom.....

One day this week there was a deeply uncomfortable moment when, during a Twitter Q&A, a gardening organisation appeared to say that if you have fungi in your garden you should dig them out!! Now first of course that’s nonsense and there is a ton of information about how good fungi are in the garden, and I’ll link to some of that below, but shouldn’t we live in a world where we can count on the information we see and hear coming from so called experts and how did we get to this place where we so obviously can’t?

It goes back to that age old phrase that knowing a tomato is a fruit is knowledge, but knowing not to add it to a fruit salad is wisdom. We can all learn things like a tomato is a fruit just by learning that anything with a seed or seeds in the centre is a fruit, but how does that translate to knowing what to do with something?

I think there’s a fairly simple answer. We have to learn to say that we don’t know or aren’t sure. And we have to learn to accept that we, none of us, can know everything, and to be confident enough in what we do know to admit when we don’t. No one would expect a chef to know every single recipe on the planet, a geographer or historian to know everything about their subject, and we would all acknowledge that in most situations there are specialists in different aspects of one subject, and that you likely wouldn’t as a historian specialising in Tudor politics answer questions about social practices of the Dark Ages, so why do we expect one person to know everything there is about gardening? Because they can’t possibly. But perhaps that is an issue about what people think gardening and horticulture is. For so many it’s seen as a hobby for those fortunate enough to have a garden, or a career for those who in some way haven’t managed to find a real job. Over and again I have spoken to people who’s expectation of a career in horticulture has been sitting on a ride on lawn mower, picking up leaves in parks, , or designing, and I quote, “posh gardens like that Chelsea”

So with that level of misunderstanding, and with very few people understanding that there is an entire industry behind the gardening sector, from plant scientists, specialised growers, plant health specialists, the list is endless, it’s hardly surprising that we expect one professional to know everything. It’s just another example of an unmeetable expectation mixed with a lack of understanding that horticulture is a science.

But perhaps it’s also more than that. Again and again I am asked gardening questions on social media and whilst happy to ID a plant there is no way in one tweet anyone can, will or should be asked to, explain a scientific reason why something is so. But, and this is where things can be unfortunate, there is always someone keen to flex their knowledge and answer a question, often incorrectly, or missing out the vital bits of a process so that the answer is just setting someone up for failure. Social media is a great place for gardeners, but it is not the place to come for learning. Often a very quick Google search will suffice. Often, and often there’s a slight level of shock to this, I will post a link or the name and author of a book. But rarely will I directly answer a question because my knowledge is my job. However, and this is where social media is a part of the problem, there are many who think that they can and should answer questions, offer teaching, because they ghave been gardening for a couple of years and therefore not just have the knowledge but also enough wisdom to translate that knowledge for everyone.

Why is this an issue? A prime example is a question about why a plant is failing. Soil, nutrition, weather, water, diseases, pests, aspect, are all important factors-in 160 characters? Impossible and dangerous to even try!! Wisdom tells me I can’t possibly answer unless I can ask 20 questions and that’s certainly not possible in one tweet, but if I post a link to a book or website that might help you to work it out and improve your knowledge at the same time, I am offering more help than just a few words.

And finally a word about the influencer culture we find ourselves in. We are all on a journey, and that journey in 2022 is more complex than ever before, with everyone trying to be an expert, be seen, and whilst this is absolutely fine my advise to people I teach is that there are some incredible folk out there on social media platforms, but always follow up online advice with a book!!

Garden Planning

It’s November, and whilst it’s one like no other, the light levels are draining and the autumnal colour is in full force as the leaves begin to fall and land on paths and pavements. However, yesterday it was 19 degrees and today I have been working in a t-shirt. Something is terribly wrong…….

Remember those days when autumn half term heralded new coats, big jumpers, tights for girls, cardigans, scarves and hats and gloves and being freezing by the time you got home from work or school? Of course these warmer autumns are becoming the norm and with them cold early spring time is becoming normal, and a sudden jump in April from freezing to hot. If it’s like this here in the UK, sheltered by the jet stream, I fear deeply for those in places where the effects of climate change have been ravaging for a good while now. They must be terrified for themselves and their children. I wonder if we will ever really understand that people fleeing from other, less secure countries is just going to be another response to climate change…..

Anyway, where was I? Well I was thinking actually. Thinking about the changes we might all have to make as gardeners. The adjustments. The seasons lead us but read any book from now back to just post war, and the advice in terms of timing is pretty much the same, and yet the climate we work in is deeply changed and changing. There is a need to adapt and with that adaptation to see how we might need to further that adaptation as the climate again shifts.

Mulching the soil on a cold november day seems a thing lost in time, and instead we trudge wheelbarrows of compost and well rotted manure through wet, soggy soil. Of course for no dig gardeners like myself, leaving it there for the soil ecology to work into the earth is fine, but digging wet soil is not just horrific on the back but also deeply harmful to the soil. Don’t walk on wet soil we are told over and over by horticultural teachers, but if there are no frosts and the soil remains sodden, what to do? Go no dig of course is the only option, but sadly not everyone sees the benefits, and many are stuck in routines.

And perhaps there lays the issue. Gardening isn’t a routine. Mother Nature doesn't work to the clock and we gardeners and growers need to adapt, to change with the ever changing tides of weather and climate. Rather than having a routine we need a gardening second sense that can see what’s going on in nature and adapt our practices to that. In central Bristol we see maybe 1 or 2 hard frosts per year and often dahlias and annual flowers continue to bloom all the way up to and through Christmas until they just run out of steam. We still have beans setting beans and we removed the tomatoes this year because we needed the space in the polytunnel, not because they had finished fruiting. The peppers and chillies are still in full growing mode and whilst we stopped watering in September to slow them down, the mix of good compost that holds in moisture and great plants, means they are fighting to give up.

So garden planning is a bit of a misnomer for this blog, because actually we need to maybe stop planning and work far more in time with the ebb and flow of the new seasons. Stop looking at what Monty might do, and start looking at what the weather is telling you to do. And with that perhaps as gardeners in an uncertain future, which likely starts today, the most important thing we can do is write notes, record what we do and when, and learn to seasonally adjust our practices so that as we pass them to our children and our children’s children they understand the need as gardeners to have that relationship with mother Earth……..

Quick Fixes Are Not The Solution.........

With COP26 almost behind us, and the threat that whatever agreement is reached not being enough, I wonder how, as gardeners and growers we feel?

I for one am angry that agroecology wasn’t front and central to the talks around agriculture, and whilst I know a lot of gardeners won’t think that’s relevant to them in reality it is and I’d like to look at why.

The key focus of agroecology is to grow food, ie farm, in tune with nature. To use land based on the needs of us all who share this planet and rather than focusing on just the crop, focusing on systems that support us all, from the tiniest insect to the largest mammal and everyone in-between. Agroecology is focused on the collective, not the individual. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that if nature can be your control mechanism, rather than being reliant on chemical control of pests and disease, that your farming practice is going to not just be kinder to all, but actually support nature to regenerate.

Now before you shout, but that won’t feed the world, I’d just ask you to take a breath. this form of agriculture feeds 70-80% of the planet-small, rural or urban farms that are focused on feeding their families or their communities, and stewarding the land on which they rely. I’ll put some resources below that tell more about this, but here’s the crux: if agroecology feeds 70% of the world, we are literally burning the planet for industrial farmers to feed the other 30%. That can in no way be seen as sustainable!

But what has this to do with gardens Sara I hear you shout. Well, whilst there is often disbelief that gardeners and home or allotment growers use chemicals of any sort, it’s true that a large proportion of gardeners do. The reason the garden centres and DIY stores stock aisles of chemicals is because they make money and sadly that is a fact. If they didn’t sell they simply wouldn’t be afforded the shelf space. And whilst these chemicals are often seen as part of the problem of gardens being far from wildlife friendly, sustainable or regenerative, they are actually just a part of another problem; the problem of consumerism and convenience.

As a young horticulturalist I recall taking my first spraying qualification, and the thing I recall the loudest, and that always was front and centre for me, was this simple phrase

“ Look at all cultural techniques before resorting to a chemical solution”

And there it is in black and white. Don’t spray unless you have to. But unfortunately what has happened is that economics have become more important than anything else, as we become time poor. And we have become time poor as we have worked harder and harder with fewer and fewer resources, and hence ending up reaching for the weedkiller instead of the hoe, or the rose clear instead of looking at mulching and good watering techniques. Even our gardening practice, the gardening that we profess to love, to be good for us, to support our mental and physical health, has it’s roots in convenience and a quick fix.

And yet we know, don’t we, that quick fixes, cheap solutions, fast anything generally means that someone or something is suffering as a result. We see this in fast fashion where garment workers are notoriously poorly paid and treated. We know this in agriculture where we see huge monocultures bereft of any nature and where farmers have to beg for banned pesticides to be returned to use, and threatening they won’t be able to grow certain crops without them. And we see it in gardens where gardener wonder where the birds and bees have gone.

I had a fascinating conversation with my last neighbour who was confused because my tiny urban garden was buzzing with life and the bees and overflies literally could be seen turning back into my garden when they looked over her wall. Her garden had plastic grass, 5 pots with Camellias and nothing else. We stood and watched a bee fly hover over the wall, turn back and disappear into the border in my garden and she suddenly got it. “i’ve made an outside room” she said, “but I haven’t made a garden”. I often wonder if perhaps that moment might have changed her garden for the better in the long term.

Any way, my point is this. Alternative, ‘new’, or even ancient techniques, practices we have taken from others and neatly packaged under titles like permaculture, no dig, etc, are all, in general practices we have taken from indigenous people across the globe, people who we colonised and who’s practises became ours through that colonialism. These people are the stewards of the earth, the original caretakers of our landscape, and we need to return to those practices in gardening, in horticulture and in agriculture. We need to forget about what is convenient, forget about the age old adage that gardening is manipulating nature, and allow nature to take the lead. And we need to do this because as gardeners we can begin to take the lead, make the difference, join our gardens in a jigsaw of health and see the bats,birds, bees, butterflies and all the creatures not beginning with b, return.

And surely a few weeds and a bit of blackspot is worth it for our children and grandchildren to be able to be gardeners in the future, and see all the insects and creatures we take for granted in their own gardens or allotments?

A November Rose

This morning I posted to Instagram the photo I have shared below. The immediate thought of course is what joy to have roses in bloom in November but then we have to ask ourselves, but is it?

And of course our immediate answer is yes, but then I began to think about the gardens in which I grew up. My formative gardens if you like, generally further north than Bristol of course, but by November 1st those gardens were places of decay, where the composting and mulching had begun, and where the onions and garlic were sitting waiting for the shortest day to be planted, and where the autumn sown broad beans were beginning to pop their heads up. The summer was long gone, the tulips were about to go in and the other autumn planting bulbs were already encased underneath the soil, cleared for them and waiting for spring.

Bu now the gardens were preparing for Guys Falkes, for bonfires and frosty mornings, which generally had begun. Our winter clothes were out and to go into the garden you needed to be wrapped up warm.

And yet at the weekend I was gardening in a tee shirt. In Bristol in the last 5 years we have seen no pre Christmas frosts and even in the new year they tend to be fairly uncommon. There are gardens we have never seen with any frost at all, where goji berries and lemongrass and flourish all year and where, today, the dahlias are still in full bloom.

Roses die back in September?October don’t they? Fade into a beautiful decay and lose their leaves to become shadow of their former and future glory. Whilst they sleep they gather the strength they need for the year ahead, their roots quietly communing with the mycelium underground, taking in the nourishment they need, stretching themselves into places where water is easily accessible, thickening their cells so that they can cope with the winter to come. Effectively putting on their winter wardrobe.

So what happens if they aren’t allowed to do this? If they think we are in some never ending summer where only the light changes but where they feel safe to flourish? What happens if they don’t put on that winter wardrobe and instead are caught out by a sharp, cold snap? Of course they’ll cope with one, but what if the weather continues to go from summer to winter and back again? How much confusion can one plant take before it begins to get really confused and is overwhelmed by the seasons, unsure of how to behave and when?

In the UK we may not have truly begun to see the ravages of climate breakdown but this week I have seen farmers fields in Devon overwhelmed by rain and water bubbling through areas next to flooding. We have seen torrential rainfall, dangerous flooding and again people being flooded out of their homes. But still we hear that climate chaos isn’t really affecting us, but here I implore you. Think back to the childhood gardens we all recall, of the season shift we all felt after the autumn half term, and consider how that has changed, Because roses blooming on the 1st of November are just one beautiful sign that climate change is not only affecting us, but also everything we share our earth with…….

And on a practical note, this rose has been given a strong talking to about COP26 and seasonality, and been given a lunch of comfrey leaves so the potash can support the cells to strengthen for that winter, which inevitably will come.

Following the Garden Path to COP26.

It’s been a while but with COP26 about to begin and ever more frightening headlines about both the climate and biodiversity crises, there seems no better time to pick up some thoughts and put them down as a recognition of an intention to call for horticulture to do better.

Yesterday I tweeted at various gardening organisations and asked if they would be present at COP26. The silence that came back was deafening, and whilst I wasn’t surprised I am disappointed. Over the last few years we have seen the start of an acknowledgement that gardening, personal food growing, and the horticultural industry that sits behind the garden centres and nurseries that we all frequent, have a place in the way the world looks and behaves. We know we have another 3 million gardeners in the post Covid UK and that for many of those gardeners, the way they garden is based on a need to find a better world, to eat healthier food and to support nature more, so why are our biggest gardening organisations not engaging with COP26?

Of course I don’t have an answer but it makes me very nervous and reminds me of the 2011 peat debacle, when rather than doing the right thing and working on good, peat free alternatives, the large compost manufacturers sent in the lobbyists and overturned the request for an 80% reduction in peat use. It reminds me of being told by representatives of chemical companies that it was impossible to run an organic nursery, (it isn’t dear reader and we proved that very well), and it reminds me of production managers who refused to see any other way of production than that which they had always followed. Just because we have always done something one way, doesn’t make that way correct. It likely makes it convenient but isn’t the time for convenience over? Haven’t we seen the harm that convenience can cause? Yes pesticides are convenient, but can we really continue in a world where human convenience is deemed to be acceptable and prioritised over the planet which we see struggling before our eyes? Can we continue to use peat based compost to grow petunias, despite knowing that peat extraction is just as harmful as deforestation in the Amazon?

Our gardens need to be regenerative. They need to support, not take from the natural world. Whilst historically our gardens have been spaces that manipulate nature, surely regenerating nature is now the priority. Leaving habitats, creating ecosystems and acknowledging that as much as we as humans have made a world where we have declared ourselves the priority, that now that priority needs to change and to understand that as the dominant species we have a responsibility to all of the other species we share our world, and our gardens with.

But with that we also need to challenge others. Not in an unpleasant way, but how is it possible that knowing what we now do, that we continue to create harm? It may just be a few slug pellets but do you want your children and grandchildren to see hedgehogs and slow worms< It might just be a bit of insecticide but what else is it killing? Even pyrethroids, this supposedly natural insecticides kill anything in their path, which can then be eaten by small birds and other creatures. It might only be a bit of weedkiller but how are we to ensure that unregulated and unlicensed sprayers know that if spray drifts it can do untold damage to watercourses and the creatures living there. The time for convenience needs to be over and we must begin, as gardeners, to offer the small scale solutions that everyone can follow. Our gardens can be beautiful, productive and regenerative and surely the time for that to begin is now.