Category Archives: resilience

Deep Green Gardening

Posted on April 1, 2013 by John Walker

The down-to-earth lessons of vegan-organic growing have the potential to make our gardens not just more productive, but more ethical and compassionate too. In this 4-page article republished courtesy of Grow It! magazine (Spring 2013), I look at what slaughterhouses have got … Continue reading →

Posted in allotments, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, eco gardening, ecological sustainability, energy use, environment, ethics, food & kitchen gardening, fossil fuels, garden compost & composting, green gardening, nature & the natural world, no-dig gardening, organic gardening, published articles, resilience, soil, vegan-organic gardening | Leave a comment

Gardening’s Last Stand

Posted on March 23, 2013 by John Walker

Allotments are a vital, living part of our gardening heritage – and when they are threatened, it’s time to draw a line. By John Walker. Published on the Hartley Botanic website, 28th January 2013 I’m an emotional kind of gardener. … Continue reading →

Posted in allotments, environment, ethics, food & kitchen gardening, food miles, good life, nature & the natural world, organic gardening, politics, published articles, resilience | Leave a comment

Resistance is Fertile: How Gardeners Can Help Wave Goodbye to Potato Blight

Posted on November 5, 2012 by John Walker

This summer’s record outbreak of late blight in potatoes has helped shine a light on a quiet but powerful revolution in potato breeding, which aims to banish the disease from our gardens. This is a resistance movement which all gardeners … Continue reading →

Posted in allotments, blight-resistant 'sárpo' potatoes, carbon footprint, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, ecological sustainability, energy use, environment, ethics, food & kitchen gardening, food miles, good life, green gardening, organic gardening, pesticides in the garden, published articles, resilience | 1 Comment

Austerity Gardening

Posted on May 15, 2012 by John Walker

Make do and mend, learn to do without, pull your socks up and get stuck in: it’s time to cultivate some old-fashioned values in the garden. By John Walker. Published on the Hartley Botanic website, 15th May 2012. Have you … Continue reading →

Posted in carbon emissions, carbon footprint, climate change & global warming, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, ecological footprints, energy use, environment, food & kitchen gardening, fossil fuels, garden centres & gardening industry, gardening footprint, glyphosate, mail order, media, nature & the natural world, organic gardening, overconsumption, packaging, published articles, renewable gardening, resilience | Leave a comment

Forget FITs – Roll Out Some Gardening GITs!

Posted on March 15, 2012 by John Walker

High-tech sunshine harvesting is all very well if you can afford it, but there’s an easier and more earth-friendly way to turn sunlight into energy that’s right outside your back door. By John Walker. Published on the Hartley Botanic website, … Continue reading →

Posted in allotments, carbon emissions, carbon footprint, climate change & global warming, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, ecological footprints, energy use, environment, food & kitchen gardening, food miles, fossil fuels, gardening footprint, green gardening, organic gardening, packaging, peak oil, published articles, renewable gardening, resilience, transition | Leave a comment

Money Can’t Buy Life

Posted on May 15, 2010 by John Walker

As we hanker for a taste of the ‘good life’, we need to realise that more satisfying, enjoyable and sustainable lives don’t arrive in the post. By John Walker. Published in Kitchen Garden, May 2010. I don’t know about you, … Continue reading →

Posted in carbon emissions, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, easy gardening, ecological sustainability, energy use, environment, garden centres & gardening industry, good life, mail order, organic gardening, overconsumption, politics, published articles, resilience | Leave a comment

Election Special

Posted on April 15, 2010 by John Walker

With trust in status quo politics withering, I offer my manifesto for a brave, visionary and greener force fit for the dawning of a more earth-friendly era. By John Walker. Published in Kitchen Garden, April 2010. Amid fevered media speculation … Continue reading →

Posted in climate change & global warming, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, eco gardening, ecological sustainability, energy use, environment, food & kitchen gardening, food miles, garden centres & gardening industry, peat & peat-free compost, politics, published articles, resilience, retail monoculture | Leave a comment

Resilience Gardening

Posted on February 15, 2010 by John Walker

Having a year-round supply of fresh food from your plot ought to help in weathering any knocks to ‘normal life’, but reality could be quite different. By John Walker. Published in Kitchen Garden, February 2010. Barbed wire and baseball bats … Continue reading →

Posted in allotments, climate change & global warming, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, energy use, environment, food & kitchen gardening, fossil fuels, organic gardening, peak oil, published articles, resilience, transition | Leave a comment

How Many Apples?

Posted on March 15, 2009 by John Walker

Becoming ‘food secure’ and curtailing climate change by growing our own makes a great sound bite, but where is the evidence to back it up? By John Walker. Published in Organic Garden & Home, March 2009. An apple a day … Continue reading →

Posted in allotments, carbon emissions, carbon footprint, climate change & global warming, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, food & kitchen gardening, food miles, fossil fuels, mail order, media, organic gardening, peak oil, pesticides in the garden, published articles, resilience | Leave a comment

Waste of Space

Posted on March 15, 2008 by John Walker

As new research describes areas of the UK as ‘food deserts’, it’s time to pull down the garden fence and turn unproductive, resource-hungry urban ‘green spaces’ into edible havens. By John Walker. Published in Organic Gardening, March 2008. This is … Continue reading →

Posted in allotments, climate- & earth-friendly gardening, energy use, environment, food & kitchen gardening, green gardening, organic gardening, politics, published articles, resilience, transition | Leave a comment