Category Archives: published articles

How to Make Seed-filled Bombs That Bloom Into Flowers for Bees, Insects and Other Wildlife

Posted on September 3, 2018 by John Walker

Dropping bombs is the sweetest, most gentle kind of revenge we can take for the savage treatment of our flora-rich roadside verges. Our gardens are brimming with ripe seeds, so it’s time to get vengeful – with flowers. By John Walker. Originally … Continue reading →

Posted in bees & other insects, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, earth-friendly books, eco gardening, environment, glyphosate, green gardening, leaf mould, nature & the natural world, organic gardening, peat & peat-free compost, published articles, renewable gardening, wildlife gardening | 2 Comments

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

Posted on September 11, 2017 by John Walker

‘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

Posted on September 4, 2017 by John Walker

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

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

Posted on May 16, 2017 by John Walker

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

Gardening in England is Set to be Completely Peat-free by 2020 – Where is The Persuasive, Compelling & Inspiring Green-fingered Roadmap That’s Going to Get Us There?

Posted on March 30, 2017 by John Walker

Meeting the UK government target of turning gardening peat-free by 2020 will bring a dark, nature-damaging side of gardening to an end. But it will only be achieved with determined effort – including a campaign to educate all those non-gardening folk buying a ‘bag of dirt’.  … Continue reading →

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

Falling Assets: How to Turn Your Free and Renewable Autumn Leaves Into Rich, Life-giving Leaf Mould to Improve Soil and to Make Your Own Peat-free Potting Compost

Posted on November 17, 2016 by John Walker

Canny gardeners don’t leave any leaves lying – this beautiful and noisy autumn windfall matures into gardening gold that’s free for the raking, and is infinitely renewable year after year after year… By John Walker. Originally published on the Hartley Botanic website as … Continue reading →

Posted in climate- & earth-friendly gardening, easy gardening, eco gardening, ecological sustainability, freegardening, garden compost, garden compost & composting, leaf mould, organic gardening, peat & peat-free compost, published articles, renewable gardening, soil | Leave a comment

How Free and Plentiful Woodchips can Help Your Organic, Earth-friendly – and Peat-free – Garden Grow

Posted on November 14, 2016 by John Walker

Mounds of woodchips are everywhere nowadays, they’re free for the taking – and they can help you go peat-free. Inspired by a pioneering vegan-organic vegetable grower, I’m now coveting every fresh mound of chips I find. By John Walker. Published in The … Continue reading →

Posted in climate- & earth-friendly gardening, ecological sustainability, environment, freegardening, garden compost, garden compost & composting, green gardening, organic gardening, peat & peat-free compost, published articles, soil, woodchips | 4 Comments

Is Gardening Really ‘Green’?

Posted on December 15, 2015 by John Walker

Exploring the reality behind gardening’s widely touted but increasingly unconvincing claim that ‘gardening is green!’ By John Walker. First published in The Garden, magazine of the Royal Horticultural Society, December 2015 Writing about gardening is a solitary game. But using the pen to place gardening … Continue reading →

Posted in climate- & earth-friendly gardening, eco gardening, environment, garden centres & gardening industry, green gardening, greenwash, media, nature & the natural world, organic gardening, peat & peat-free compost, published articles, renewable 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

Posted on December 14, 2014 by John Walker

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 →

Posted in allotments, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, eco gardening, environment, garden centres & gardening industry, green gardening, greenwash, leaf mould, media, organic gardening, overconsumption, published articles, renewable gardening, tv gardening & celebrities | Leave a comment

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

Posted on October 11, 2014 by John Walker

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