Category Archives: environment

The Fight Against Blight

Posted on December 15, 2007 by John Walker

I report from the potato blight front-line, and ask whether the remarkable ‘Sárpo’ varieties might soon be the only spuds worth growing. By John Walker. Published in Organic Gardening, December 2007. Is there a rather unpleasant whiff coming from your … Continue reading →

Posted in allotments, blight-resistant 'sárpo' potatoes, carbon emissions, carbon footprint, environment, food & kitchen gardening, green gardening, organic gardening, published articles | 6 Comments

Don’t Look Back

Posted on November 15, 2007 by John Walker

As climate scientists find a ‘human fingerprint’ in extreme rainfall events, and warn that the past is no longer a guide to the future,  how will organic gardeners fare in an unpredictable climate? By John Walker. Published in Organic Gardening, … Continue reading →

Posted in allotments, carbon emissions, carbon footprint, climate change & global warming, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, energy use, environment, food & kitchen gardening, gardening footprint, nature & the natural world, organic gardening, pollution, published articles | Leave a comment

Centres For the Earth

Posted on October 15, 2007 by John Walker

As supermarkets eye up the ‘green pound’, what we need is not a monoculture of ‘Tescoised’ garden centres but local, diverse and distinctive earth centres. By John Walker. Published in Organic Gardening, October 2007. By the time you read this, … Continue reading →

Posted in climate- & earth-friendly gardening, eco gardening, energy use, environment, ethics, garden centres & gardening industry, gardening footprint, nature & the natural world, organic gardening, overconsumption, published articles, recycling, resilience, retail monoculture, transition | 1 Comment

Just a Bit of Veg?

Posted on September 15, 2007 by John Walker

Our gardens can tick most of the boxes needed to achieve the much-vaunted ‘low carbon’ life. I explain how my own patch is at the heart of my plan for lighter living. By John Walker. Published in Organic Gardening, September … Continue reading →

Posted in allotments, carbon footprint, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, environment, food & kitchen gardening, food miles, fossil fuels, garden compost & composting, gardening footprint, good life, green gardening, nature & the natural world, organic gardening, published articles, resilience, soil, vegan-organic gardening | Leave a comment

Intensive Care

Posted on August 15, 2007 by John Walker

As weather patterns shift and water supplies dwindle, can we sustain the container gardening craze in its present form? By John Walker. Published in Organic Gardening, August 2007. Love them or loathe them, there’s something mesmerising about those TV dramas … Continue reading →

Posted in climate change & global warming, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, container gardening, easy gardening, ecological sustainability, energy use, environment, ethics, gardening footprint, green gardening, organic gardening, overconsumption, peat & peat-free compost, pesticides in the garden, published articles, rainwater harvesting, soil, tv gardening & celebrities, water & 'water footprints' | Leave a comment

I Don’t Need a Bag…

Posted on July 15, 2007 by John Walker

Amid a media frenzy over excess packaging, garden centres seem oblivious to putting the stops on plastic – and they’re giving us their own waste to dispose of too. By John Walker. Published in Organic Gardening, July 2007.  It was … Continue reading →

Posted in climate change & global warming, energy use, environment, garden centres & gardening industry, nature & the natural world, overconsumption, packaging, plastic, pollution, published articles | Leave a comment

Free to Good Garden

Posted on June 15, 2007 by John Walker

It’s time to put the brakes on horticultural consumerism by obtaining all we need in the garden for free. By John Walker. Published in Organic Gardening, June 2007.  A glance at my computer screen reveals the latest clutch of gardening … Continue reading →

Posted in climate- & earth-friendly gardening, eco gardening, ecological footprints, energy use, environment, fossil fuels, freegardening, green gardening, organic gardening, overconsumption, pollution, published articles, recycling, resilience | Leave a comment

Relative Merits

Posted on May 15, 2007 by John Walker

As organic gardeners, we need to challenge attempts to use the growing criticism of organic farming to tarnish our impeccable credentials.  By John Walker. Published in Organic Gardening, May 2007. Organic gardening has a problem, and it’s called organic farming. … Continue reading →

Posted in climate- & earth-friendly gardening, energy use, environment, food & kitchen gardening, food miles, fossil fuels, green gardening, media, nature & the natural world, organic gardening, packaging, pesticides in the garden, plastic, published articles | Leave a comment

Dear President…

Posted on April 15, 2007 by John Walker

In an open letter to the president of the Royal Horticultural Society, I ask if 2007 will be the year that Britain’s leading gardening organisation finally wakes up to the realities of global warming. By John Walker. Published in Organic … 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 compost & composting, gardening footprint, green gardening, greenwash, media, organic gardening, overconsumption, packaging, pollution, published articles | Leave a comment

Make Pesticides History

Posted on March 15, 2007 by John Walker

Increasing attempts to discredit organic growing by chemical-happy spin-doctors point to only one thing: the pesticide manufacturers are well and truly on the back foot. By John Walker. Published in Organic Gardening, March 2007. It’s a safe bet that a … Continue reading →

Posted in eco gardening, environment, ethics, food & kitchen gardening, garden centres & gardening industry, genetically modified (GM) crops, glyphosate, greenwash, media, nature & the natural world, organic gardening, peat & peat-free compost, pesticides in the garden, politics, pollution, published articles, tv gardening & celebrities | 1 Comment