Category Archives: garden centres & gardening industry

Celebrities… Get Them Out of Here

Posted on September 15, 2008 by John Walker

It’s time for programme-makers to ditch celebrities, and instead start creating TV shows around folk who garden in the real world. By John Walker. Published in Organic Gardening, September 2008. Eavesdropping can be a depressing business – as I found … Continue reading →

Posted in carbon footprint, climate change & global warming, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, environment, fossil fuels, garden centres & gardening industry, gardening footprint, media, open gardens, organic gardening, overconsumption, published articles, tv gardening & celebrities | Leave a comment

Smoke and Mirrors

Posted on June 15, 2008 by John Walker

Earth-friendly organic gardening has had a drubbing recently in other gardening magazines. What drives the ‘organic bashers’ – a lack of understanding, or the need to keep the chemical companies sweet? By John Walker. Published in Organic Gardening, June 2008. … Continue reading →

Posted in carbon emissions, carbon footprint, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, eco gardening, environment, ethics, garden centres & gardening industry, glyphosate, greenwash, media, organic gardening, pesticides in the garden, politics, published articles, tv gardening & celebrities | 1 Comment

A Royal Shade of Green?

Posted on May 15, 2008 by John Walker

In an exclusive interview for Organic Gardening, I talk recycling, renewable energy and carbon footprints with Bob Sweet, the key decision-maker behind the Royal Horticultural Society flower shows, including the 2008 Chelsea Flower Show. By John Walker. Published in Organic … Continue reading →

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Turning Off the Tap

Posted on February 1, 2008 by John Walker

 ‘Peak oil’, when global oil supplies begin to enter terminal decline, is a matter of when, not if. So when can we expect a transition away from oil-hungry organic gardening? By John Walker. Published in Organic Gardening, Winter 2008. Just … Continue reading →

Posted in climate- & earth-friendly gardening, ecological sustainability, energy use, fossil fuels, garden centres & gardening industry, garden compost & composting, organic gardening, peak oil, pesticides in the garden, resilience, transition | 1 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

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

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

Time To Power Down?

Posted on January 15, 2007 by John Walker

As concern over Western ‘energy obesity’ moves up the agenda, can we really afford, financially or morally, to continue switching on our propagators and greenhouse heaters? By John Walker. Published in Organic Gardening, January 2007. Winner of the Garden Media … Continue reading →

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Gardens in the Air

Posted on May 15, 2006 by John Walker

As the show season gets underway and entire gardens are flown in from the other side of the planet, has the UK’s leading gardening organisation lost the environmental plot? By John Walker. Published in Organic Gardening, May 2006. As I … Continue reading →

Posted in carbon emissions, carbon footprint, climate change & global warming, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, ecological footprints, ecological sustainability, energy use, environment, fossil fuels, garden centres & gardening industry, greenwash, media, nature & the natural world, pollution, published articles | Leave a comment