Category Archives: climate change & global warming

The Carbon Conundrum

There’s a hands-on horticultural way to mitigate climate change – but it will only make a real difference if our gardens aren’t also part of the problem. By John Walker. Published on the Hartley Botanic website, 4th December 2011. Something … Continue reading

Posted in carbon emissions, carbon footprint, climate change & global warming, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, eco gardening, energy use, environment, garden compost & composting, organic gardening, peat & peat-free compost, published articles, renewable gardening, soil | Leave a comment

Considerate Cultivation: Running Your Garden on Truly Renewable Fuels

Going peat-free is all-important in an earth-friendly garden, but there’s more: the compost you use needs to be a truly renewable fuel. By John Walker. Published on the Hartley Botanic website, 21st October 2011. Coaxing a steep, bracken-riddled bank of acidic, nutrient-poor … Continue reading

Posted in climate change & global warming, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, ecological sustainability, environment, garden compost & composting, gardening footprint, green gardening, greenwash, nature & the natural world, organic gardening, peat & peat-free compost, published articles, renewable gardening | 2 Comments

Bring Me Sunshine: The Power Behind Renewable Gardening

Using a greenhouse to grow your own food will make your garden greener and help trim your ‘ecological footprint’ – but only if you tap into the right kind of sunshine. By John Walker. Published on the Hartley Botanic website, 23rd September … Continue reading

Posted in carbon emissions, carbon footprint, climate change & global warming, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, ecological footprints, energy use, environment, ethics, food & kitchen gardening, fossil fuels, gardening footprint, nature & the natural world, organic gardening, peat & peat-free compost, pollution, published articles, renewable gardening | Leave a comment

The Peat ‘Debate’ Does Us All Harm

The belief that by using peat compost we can benefit nature keeps us disconnected from the natural world. By John Walker. Published in Garden News, 14th June 2011. Of all the harebrained excuses I’ve seen bandied around for the continued … Continue reading

Posted in carbon emissions, carbon footprint, climate change & global warming, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, ecological sustainability, environment, ethics, garden centres & gardening industry, nature & the natural world, peat & peat-free compost, published articles | Leave a comment

Compost Crisis

Climate-friendly peat-free composts aren’t taking their place at the heart of more eco-savvy gardening because we’re not yet paying enough for them. By John Walker. Published in Kitchen Garden, November 2010. When well-known gardening pundits start proclaiming just how ‘awful’ … Continue reading

Posted in carbon emissions, carbon footprint, climate change & global warming, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, eco gardening, ecological sustainability, food & kitchen gardening, fossil fuels, garden centres & gardening industry, greenwash, media, nature & the natural world, organic gardening, peat & peat-free compost, published articles | 1 Comment

Drought of Good Sense

Are gardeners really the ‘victims’ when hosepipe bans are announced – or are we just the unwitting pawns of a gardening industry running dry on ecological consciousness? By John Walker. Published in Kitchen Garden, September 2010. Victimised, threatened and dealt … Continue reading

Posted in climate change & global warming, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, container gardening, ecological sustainability, energy use, environment, food & kitchen gardening, garden centres & gardening industry, garden compost & composting, greenwash, organic gardening, published articles, rainwater harvesting, soil, water & 'water footprints' | Leave a comment

The Peat Delusion

As gardening spin urges us to keep buying peat compost, science is telling us that the safest place for peat is in the ground. By John Walker. Published in Kitchen Garden, June 2010. “If you are concerned about green issues, … Continue reading

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

Election Special

With trust in status quo politics withering, I offer my manifesto for a brave, visionary and greener force fit for the dawning of a more earth-friendly era. By John Walker. Published in Kitchen Garden, April 2010. Amid fevered media speculation … Continue reading

Posted in climate change & global warming, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, eco gardening, ecological sustainability, energy use, environment, food & kitchen gardening, food miles, garden centres & gardening industry, peat & peat-free compost, politics, published articles, resilience, retail monoculture | Leave a comment

Strange Bedfellows

Garden Organic’s plans to be co-opted by big business threaten to undermine the ecologically desirable tenets of thrift, frugality and prudence that organic gardening actually epitomizes. By John Walker. Published in Kitchen Garden, March 2010. Without knowing quite where it’s … Continue reading

Posted in carbon emissions, climate change & global warming, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, eco gardening, ecological sustainability, garden centres & gardening industry, greenwash, media, organic gardening, overconsumption, published articles, retail monoculture | Leave a comment

Resilience Gardening

Having a year-round supply of fresh food from your plot ought to help in weathering any knocks to ‘normal life’, but reality could be quite different. By John Walker. Published in Kitchen Garden, February 2010. Barbed wire and baseball bats … Continue reading

Posted in allotments, climate change & global warming, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, energy use, environment, food & kitchen gardening, fossil fuels, organic gardening, peak oil, published articles, resilience, transition | Leave a comment