Category Archives: allotments

It’s Time For Gardeners to Break Their Silence on Climate Breakdown. What we Do in Our Gardens and Allotments Does Affect the World Around us

‘Keep quiet and grow on’ simply isn’t tenable any longer. What we do in our gardens does make a difference to the chaos of climate change – for better or for worse. By John Walker. Originally published on the Hartley Botanic website as … Continue reading

Posted in allotments, carbon emissions, climate change & global warming, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, earth-friendly books, energy use, environment, ethics, garden centres & gardening industry, green gardening, greenwash, media, organic gardening, overconsumption, published articles, renewable gardening, tv gardening & celebrities | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Add Water, Add Life: How to Make a Simple DIY Wildlife-attracting Pond in Your Garden, Allotment, Greenhouse or Polytunnel Using Free and Found Materials

Outdoors in a garden or allotment, or under cover in a greenhouse or polytunnel, adding even a small pond is the surest way to bring myriad wild life – and all its year-round benefits – into your growing space, whatever its … Continue reading

Posted in allotments, earth-friendly books, eco gardening, environment, green gardening, nature & the natural world, published articles, water & 'water footprints', wildlife gardening, wildlife pond | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Wonderful Weeds: HOGWEED or COW PARSNIP – A Big, Tall Weed Whose Flowers Are a Magnet for Bees, Hoverflies and Other Beneficial Garden Insects

Hogweed Heracleum sphondylium Other names: cow parsnip, keck, limberscrimps Life cycle: biennial/perennial Often seen on roadsides, this tough, taprooted weed can be difficult to remove if it gets a foothold in beds or borders. Leafy rosettes of deeply lobed leaves … Continue reading

Posted in allotments, bees & other insects, blog, earth-friendly books, green gardening, nature & the natural world, weeds | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Make Your Own Easy, Cost-free Biodiversity-Boosting ‘Insect Hotels’ For Your Garden or Allotment and Encourage Wild Solitary Bees and Pest-eating Wasps to Live and Nest There

Media buzz about bee conservation can have a real and positive effect, but virtual wildlife gardening only goes so far. I wanted a more immediate way of boosting wild bee (and wasp) populations on my own, real-life patch, so I … Continue reading

Posted in allotments, bees & other insects, eco gardening, food & kitchen gardening, green gardening, nature & the natural world, neonicotinoids or 'neonics', pesticides in the garden, published articles, wildlife gardening | Leave a comment

Forget Black Friday – Green is the New Black for Gardeners Who Want to Escape the Hype of Mass Consumerism and Make Every Day in Their Garden a Green, Earth-friendly One

Mortified by the annual spectacle of pushing and shoving that celebrates overconsumption on ‘Black Friday’, I headed home in search of a more sedate and decidedly green gardening Friday… By John Walker. Originally published on the Hartley Botanic website as ‘Green days’, 14th … Continue reading

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How to Succeed in Your Garden With Modern, Reliable and Nature-friendly Peat-free Sowing and Potting Compost

Gardeners have never had it so good when it comes to nature-friendly, peat-free composts for sowing seeds, potting up plants, filling pots and containers, or for simply improving our garden or allotment soil.  By John Walker. Published in The Telegraph, 11th October 2014. … Continue reading

Posted in allotments, ecological sustainability, environment, ethics, food & kitchen gardening, garden compost & composting, gardening footprint, green gardening, nature & the natural world, organic gardening, peat & peat-free compost, published articles, renewable gardening | 4 Comments

Potting Up Dandelions

If you cultivate an enlightened attitude to wild plants instead of trying to constantly eradicate them, your garden can share in their success. By John Walker. Published on the Hartley Botanic website, 13th August 2014. Put ‘kill dandelions’ into a search … Continue reading

Posted in allotments, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, container gardening, eco gardening, environment, food & kitchen gardening, glyphosate, green gardening, nature & the natural world, organic gardening, published articles, renewable gardening, weeds | 1 Comment

Added Values

The way we garden reveals a lot about our outlook on the world. It comes down to whether we feel gratitude to planet Earth – or think it owes us. By John Walker. Published on the Hartley Botanic website, 19th … Continue reading

Posted in allotments, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, eco gardening, environment, ethics, garden centres & gardening industry, garden compost & composting, green gardening, media, nature & the natural world, organic gardening, peat & peat-free compost, published articles, renewable gardening | Leave a comment

Snowball Effect

Some of the drivers behind the peat-free roll-out are surprising and not all are admirable – but that doesn’t detract from the benefits to the gardener and the natural world. By John Walker. Published on the Hartley Botanic website, 7th October 2013 There’s a … Continue reading

Posted in allotments, carbon footprint, climate change & global warming, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, eco gardening, environment, ethics, fossil fuels, garden centres & gardening industry, garden compost, green gardening, greenwash, media, nature & the natural world, organic gardening, peat & peat-free compost, published articles, renewable gardening | Leave a comment

Planet-friendly Pest Busting

Simple solutions guided and powered by nature lie at the heart of my eco-friendly approach to pest control. In this 4-page article republished courtesy of Grow It! magazine (July 2013), I explain how my lazy way of keeping plant pests in check is simple, … Continue reading

Posted in allotments, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, eco gardening, ecological footprints, ecological sustainability, environment, food & kitchen gardening, green gardening, nature & the natural world, organic gardening, pesticides in the garden, published articles, renewable gardening | Leave a comment