Category Archives: garden centres & gardening industry

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 →

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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

How Gardeners and a Top Compost-maker are Teaming up to Bring Professional-quality SylvaGrow Peat-free Compost Into More Garden Centres, Plant Nurseries, Shops and Other Horticultural Suppliers

Posted on April 4, 2016 by John Walker

Why didn’t we think of it sooner? The makers of SylvaGrow professional-quality peat-free compost – which has bagged no less than three Which? Gardening Best Buy awards, and carries the endorsement of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) – have just … Continue reading →

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Modern Peat-free Composts March on: RHS-Endorsed SylvaGrow Bags a Which? Gardening Best Buy Gong for Container Gardening – for the Second Year in a Row

Posted on March 23, 2016 by John Walker

Just when you thought modern and reliable peat-free composts couldn’t get any better – and there are a clutch of good ones out there – SylvaGrow, a professional grade (as used by professionals…) peat-free, environmentally sustainable, all-purpose compost, has has just been awarded another … Continue reading →

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Inclusive, Persuasive and Gently Powerful – How the #Peatfree Hashtag is Changing Gardening and Horticulture for Good

Posted on March 16, 2016 by John Walker

One symbol, the hash sign (that’s one of these #) grafted onto the words ‘peat’ and ‘free’ (as in ‘#peatfree’) is giving all gardeners confidence in forgoing peat use – by slaying tired old myths about whether our garden plants … Continue reading →

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SylvaGrow Peat-free All-purpose Compost Awarded Two Best Buys by Which? Gardening* – and it’s the First Peat-free Compost to be Endorsed by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS)

Posted on March 2, 2016 by John Walker

SylvaGrow peat-free compost was launched in spring 2014. It’s a 100% peat-free all-purpose compost made with sustainably sourced fine bark, wood fibre, and coir from a single, known source (it doesn’t contain any ‘green waste’ compost), plus plant nutrients sufficient for 4-6 weeks. SylvaGrow … Continue reading →

Posted in blog, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, ecological sustainability, environment, ethics, garden centres & gardening industry, garden compost & composting, organic gardening, peat & peat-free compost, renewable gardening | 2 Comments

All Change for Some Modern Peat-free Composts This Spring

Posted on February 24, 2016 by John Walker

Two of the modern peat-free composts I’ve been sowing and growing in successfully for several years, are a-changing. It’s all down to rebranding, and to one business being taken over by another (after it went bust). It’s always tedious when businesses … Continue reading →

Posted in blog, carbon emissions, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, ecological sustainability, environment, garden centres & gardening industry, garden compost, peat & peat-free compost | 23 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 →

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The Full List of Bug-killing, Bee-harming Neonicotinoid (or ‘Neonics’) Garden Sprays Which Are on Sale in Garden Centres, Supermarkets, Do-It-Yourself Stores, and Shops Just About Everywhere

Posted on July 29, 2015 by John Walker

Several people have asked me for a bigger, easier to read version of the list of garden bug-killing and bee-harming sprays (and compost/soil drenches) which contain the polluting chemicals known as neonicotinoids (‘neonics’ for short), which has been shared widely on Twitter. … Continue reading →

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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 →

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