One of the most engaging ‘twitterships’ that I’ve struck up in the flourishing world of gardening social media is my occasional exchanges with Brenda Smith, co-founder of Bud Garden Centre, in Burnage, Manchester (@BudGardenCentre).
We share plenty in common, both being avid, earth-friendly organic gardeners. But what makes both our horticultural hearts sing is a good old ‘twitterwag’ about using seed and potting composts that don’t involve ripping up entire ecosystems. That’s why Bud grow all their fine plants in, and why I regularly write about, good quality peat-free and peat-bog-friendly composts, which can give all gardeners rewarding and reliable results. Folk like Bud, who use peat-free compost to grow plants as part of their small but successful urban garden centre – itself founded on strong ethical foundations – have my admiration. We need to see more of these truly local and earth-attuned garden centres springing up all over the place.
Brenda recently produced (for the Soil Association’s Organic September) a handy pamphlet all about growing organically, which outlines the basic principles which underpin a successful organic garden. It also has an information-packed guide to making compost the ‘cold’ (my favourite) and the ‘hot’ way, plus Brenda’s ‘basic guidelines for beginners’ for anyone stepping out onto the path of more ecologically sensitive, planet-friendly gardening.
I almost forgot: there’s also an extract from yours truly’s article ‘Who needs peat?’, which is a short primer on why peat-free gardening is the gardening of the future.
You can read/download the pamphlet, as a PDF here, or click the image (top) above.
