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Category Archives: organic gardening
Who Needs Peat?
Peat-free composts can grow plants just as well as peat-based, but with an added feel-good factor. In this 4-page article republished courtesy of Grow It! magazine (September 2012), I give tips and advice gleaned from my 2012 garden trial of … Continue reading
Posted in carbon emissions, climate change & global warming, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, ecological sustainability, environment, ethics, food & kitchen gardening, garden compost & composting, green gardening, nature & the natural world, organic gardening, peat & peat-free compost, published articles
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Keep Calm and… Put Up a Greenhouse
It’s time to take cover: after another grey, sodden summer, the future for serious garden food growers looks a lot brighter under glass or plastic. By John Walker. Published on the Hartley Botanic website, 26th July 2012 Pale, drawn and … Continue reading
Posted in climate- & earth-friendly gardening, ecological sustainability, energy use, environment, ethics, food & kitchen gardening, food miles, garden compost & composting, organic gardening, peat & peat-free compost, published articles, rainwater harvesting, renewable gardening, vegan-organic gardening
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It’s Time To Have Your Peat-Free Say On ‘Towards Sustainable Growing Media’
The chair of the government’s Sustainable Growing Media Task Force (SGMTF), Dr Alan Knight, has now published his chair’s report and draft ‘road map’, Towards Sustainable Growing Media. You might well be wondering why we actually need a map, when a … Continue reading
Flogging Faith in Nature
There’s no need to buy solutions to pest problems that nature can solve for us. The only real problem is how to sell this idea. By John Walker. Published on the Hartley Botanic website, 21st June 2012 Minuscule spiders a … Continue reading
Posted in ecological sustainability, energy use, environment, fossil fuels, garden centres & gardening industry, green gardening, media, nature & the natural world, organic gardening, pesticides in the garden, pollution, published articles, renewable gardening, tv gardening & celebrities
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Farewell Peat
We should salute peat’s service to gardening, but we no longer need it to grow a beautiful, productive plot. Let’s bid peat adieu and gets its greener successors under our fingernails. By John Walker. Published in Guardian Weekend, 16th June … Continue reading
Greening Up Your Gardening
Rethinking the way you tend your garden will reap great environmental benefits and help to strengthen your relationship with the natural world. By John Walker. Published in Kew magazine, Summer 2012. When it comes to more eco-friendly living, insulating your … Continue reading
Posted in carbon emissions, carbon footprint, climate change & global warming, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, eco gardening, ecological footprints, ecological sustainability, energy use, environment, food miles, fossil fuels, garden centres & gardening industry, garden compost & composting, green gardening, greenwash, nature & the natural world, organic gardening, overconsumption, peat & peat-free compost, pesticides in the garden, published articles, rainwater harvesting, renewable gardening, soil
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Austerity Gardening
Make do and mend, learn to do without, pull your socks up and get stuck in: it’s time to cultivate some old-fashioned values in the garden. By John Walker. Published on the Hartley Botanic website, 15th May 2012. Have you … Continue reading
Posted in carbon emissions, carbon footprint, climate change & global warming, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, ecological footprints, energy use, environment, food & kitchen gardening, fossil fuels, garden centres & gardening industry, gardening footprint, glyphosate, mail order, media, nature & the natural world, organic gardening, overconsumption, packaging, published articles, renewable gardening, resilience
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Peat-Free Compost: A Buyer’s guide
Having tested more peat-free composts than I could shake a beanpole at, in this article, republished courtesy of Kitchen Garden magazine (June 2012), I recommend my top six peat-frees for the 2012 sowing and growing season. You can read the original 3-page … Continue reading
Peat-Free Compost: A User’s Guide
In this article, republished courtesy of Kitchen Garden magazine (May 2012), I reflect on lessons learned from my 2011 gardening trial of some good, bad and ugly peat-free composts, and offer advice for anyone setting out on the peatless path. … Continue reading
Choosing and Using Peat-Free Compost
Are you looking for a dependable peat-free compost that gives consistently good results? In this article published in The Organic Way (205, Spring 2012), I reflect on some lessons learned from my initial trials with 16 different peat-free composts, and … Continue reading