Hooray for SylvaGrow!!

Yesterday Melcourt's SylvaGrow 100% peat free compost was awarded the accolade of best newcomer in the chemical, fertilisers and composts category at the Glee, the UK's premier show for the horticultural industry.
This is excellent news on so many levels, because it's proof that peat free compost is now being taken seriously in an industry that often fails to consider its environmental impact, or makes excuses for not doing so.
Recently I visited a nursery who have created a new compost and were keen for the people visiting to trial the product. I asked various questions about the product including what the peat content might be, really hoping they were going to say peat free or at least a very low proportion. But, and here's the crux, when I asked what the peat content was, it turned out to be 80%. 80%!!!!! When I expressed shock they were very quick to say that any government guidelines for peat reduction are voluntary, they were not the only ones still using it, plants can't be grown as well in peat free composts and all the usual excuses and were genuinely shocked when I refused, point blank, to take any home with me.
Now we all understand that although peat does eventually replace itself it is an extremely long process of thousands of years and so when used as a fuel it is classified as a fossil fuel. Peat bogs are singularly the best and most efficient carbon sinks we have and although they are still used for energy around the world, the use of peat in horticulture has long been seen as an issue. In 2011 the UK government asked the industry to look at voluntarily reducing peat use so that by 2015 all publicly procured plants were peat free, all amateur composts and growing mediums would be peat free by 2020 and all commercial media to be peat free by 2030. At the time this created serious ripples within the industry and there were a lot of the smaller growing media companies working really hard on creating great peat free alternatives. However, the bigger companies carried on as usual and the one we were dealing with at the time actually just laughed when we brought it up with them and told me in a phone conversation that they would speak to my boss as I was obviously an hormonal woman not able to see reality yes, seriously said those words) and laughed.....
 As at the time we were using over 50 tonnes a month of their product, when the nursery made the jump to peat free, they were, to say the least, surprised and shocked and sent us a hugely patronising report on how peat free growing media would never take off as an industry standard. Sadly so far they have been proven correct.
I wonder where we are with this? Again and again I'm told by growers that it's impossible to grow without peat, but as a professional grower myself I have grown trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants in peat free compost (actually in Melcourt SylvaGrow) and although, without a doubt, it was a challenge to begin with because it is a new media and any new growing media take time to get used to, it took a reasonably limited amount of time to get it right and to start to produce plants that were at least as good in standard as anything that had been produced previously with peat. On a personal note, at home, at the allotment, and for the Physic Garden, I have always used peat free compost, including for seed germination, and again I have never seen this as an issue.
But here's my real concern. People see gardening as being green, environmentally friendly and good for the planet, which in the main it is, but it could be more so. Peat reduction would be one way of doing this, instead of every time it raises its ugly head stating that it's only a voluntary reduction in peat, and so not law and so not really taken seriously. I seriously hope that Melcourt winning this award might get people talking about this and realising that peat free growing media is now a real alternative.
Fingers crossed I guess.........

This Philadelpus was grown from a cutting in peat free compost and flowered for the first time this year. The compost in it's pot today is Melcourt's SylvaGrow and that is what it has been potted into at each stage of it's growth.

Organic September through new eyes!!

Once again it's September and that means the Soil Association are running their Organic September campaign as they do every year, highlighting how buying some organic food helps our health, wildlife, the land being used to produce the food and local producers amongst more.

Last week I was walking through the Bearpit roundabout in Bristol and came across these amazing artworks that the Soil Association have commissioned some of Bristol's incredible grafitti artists to paint to bring Organic September to the fore and possibly introduce the concept of organics and bring a food production conversation to a new audience. I think it's worth applauding the Soil Association for this and proves again that art is often the way to open a conversation with a new audience.

 This piece is by Luke Sleven, a really talented chap and pal of mine!! It has created conversation as it, quite rightly, says that organic production uses fewer pesticides, rather than none which is often what people assume organic means. It's worth pointing out that quite a few really unpleasant pesticides are allowed in organic production, although often smaller producers avoid these too. Larger scale growers will definitely still be using some chemicals though, albeit that they are sourced from natural ingredients rather than synthetic ones. However, if you have ever sprayed copper as a fungicide you will know just how unpleasant it is.

 It's interesting, I think, to see art making quite political statements and bringing important information to the fore in a safe and often beautiful way!! Many people have no idea how important soil is as a carbon sink and that keeping soil healthy is as much about helping climate change as it is food production.

 Of course there is an irony here in that often these artists use spray cans which are hardly environmentally friendly! However, I'm assured that they are now sourcing less unpleasant paints!

This is a piece we, Incredible Edible Bristol, collaborated with the People's Republic of Stokes Croft on and it stands in the central reservation of Stokes Croft. it's planted with tree spinach, kale and nasturtiums which were grown, by me, for Incredible Edible Bristol's part of the project.

My Little Garden

I often get asked about my own garden, as opposed to the allotment, and so I thought I would share a few pictures and talk a little bit about what goes on in the patch outside my back door.
The garden is tiny and is part of a larger space that is shared with the house upstairs, so our garden is basically the patio area outside the back door and is delineated by the step down to the main garden. The main space is very wild and occassionally I go and hack some of it back but it's not my space and so I shall concentrate on what is mine to play in.
Firstly I have no soil so the entire garden is in pots and raised beds which were here when we arrived. When we first arrived the whole space was over run by brambles which we are still fighting, and with the ivy which still adorns the wall and which, now we are in control of it, lends a lush background to the space.
The garden's main issue is its lack of biodiversity, which is an ongoing issue and will continue to be so. Being in the centre of a city means that the naturalised birds are seagulls and pigeons and there is not a hedgehog to be found for miles around. We are starting to see smaller birds by introducing feeders and with the wilder area at the back offering seclusion there have been a few nests in the garden this year but the thrushes and blackbirds we so desperately need to control the mollusc problem are not to be seen. And the mollusc problem is huge!! Twice daily patrols, organic pellets and now the introduction of a copper band around a lupin, many thanks to STV Peat Control, and we are beginning to win a few battles but in the rain last week that was so torrential I forgot about slug patrols, we lost 24 kale plants, 48 lettuces and my Monarda was eaten down to its roots. But more on Sluggmagedon in a future post!! In the meantime the fight to increase numbers of birds goes on along with the hope that we might be able to introduce a small pond into the wilder area which might bring with it some amphibians.....

The large banana plant came from the south east with me and will need to be repotted into a far larger pot next spring. I left it outside over the winter and it was perfectly fine-one of the joys of being in the city centre!

That empty pot needs filling desperately as well as being moved to a different point in the space. I think it may soon have the banana in it!!

A corner of the garden that has a large raised bed at the back and pots at the front full of echinacea, fuchsias, agapanthis and more. I've spent all summer moving pots around until they worked and there is still more moving to do.

There are two benches in the garden, both of which are full of plants and seedlings!! This is a great sunny spot for the chillies which are ripening nicely. The really great thing about the garden is not only is it really secluded and has it's own microclimate but it also is south facing.

This corner is still continually having to have brambles cut back in it but they are starting to get the message I hope.

The area under the stairs from the upstairs is really useful for propagation but at the moment there are more chillies ripening there.

The state of our plots.........

Those of you who follow me on social media or regularly read this blog will be aware of the ongoing work going on to put a bus only road through our allotments at Stapleton in Bristol. The year has been long, sad and felt fairly unproductive as the site has and continues to feel unwelcoming and difficult.
Still we have to show a key, now for a long lost lock, to gain access through fencing from a security guard who is on duty 24/7.
Still we arrive to find that there are constantly security dogs on site, which on a personal level makes me constantly anxious whilst there.
There are machines digging and moving things about and now the plots at the far end of the site, the ones that will be lost forever despite the love and attention given them by their tenants for, in some cases, longer than I have been alive, have been given a date to vacate and will finally be moving to the new sites that are located on what was  Feed Bristol's wonderful wildflower meadow.
Being at the plot has felt stressful and caused anxiety and although we have tried to make it business as usual a lot of plots have been left untended, or not as well tended as usual. It has taken a huge mental effort to go there since the occupation of the trees, and it's hard walking around the site and remembering those brave souls who fought so hard not just to save that land but also to create a wonderful if temporary community on our site. To this day and forever I will thank them for their bravery and for standing up for our land in the face of cold, wet winter and foregoing their personal comfort to do so.
But I have gone. And some things have been planted and some crops have appeared, mainly through their own determination to survive than anything that I have really done. The beetroots and chard, sorrel, spinach, potatoes, kale and herbs have flourished despite the sadness and we have cropped and eaten them as we would every year, but in all honesty they haven't brought their usual joy. They are a constant reminder of what was and what will soon be gone.
But we move on and plans are beginning to become clear as to what must be done to move this sad and sorry place forwards. Plans for more flowers, new and bigger beds and a possible polytunnel are alive and running in my head. The area at the far end, left to nettles this year in order that the destruction of the wild flower meadow couldn't be seen from the plot, needs to be addressed now that there is a path and new allotments at that end rather than wildlife rich hedge and meadow. Dead trees that are at the end and were a part of the hedge, now need felling and a new area will appear for, as yet, I know not what. Perhaps a wildlife area to in some tiny way, make up for the loss of those trees, those wildflowers......
What this year has really made me realise is that my mental health has been directly affected by the state of the site and the destruction of the land. Half way through the occupation, when fences had gone up and security were brought in, depression hit in a way it does only rarely, knocking me into a deep and dark abyss that saw me having to stop.
Stop to let the dust in my head settle.
Stop take in what was really happening to that precious piece of land.
Rarely has a visit to the plot this year not seen tears as I so desperately needed to be there despite the destruction feeling that it was pulling me apart. And recently that deep abyss has been threatening to re-open as the time comes closer and closer to those plots being forever sealed under tarmac for a bus only route that is already reneging on it's promises.
I don't share this lightly. But I share this in the hope that people, whoever they are, and whatever their link might be to growing, the land or food, might realise that us allotment holders don't just grow food.
 It's not just a little hobby.
For many it's about sanctuary.
For many it's about health and well being.
For many it's about a connection with the earth and the seasons.
But for all of us it's about a connection to that piece of land, that precious piece of earth that we call our plot.

                   My plot can be seen here on the left with the greenhouse-that hedge is now tarmac.

                                  Flowers in the first year I had the plot-before the chaos began.

The Making of a Soil Declaration for a city....

For the last 8 Saturdays Bristol has been home to Soil Saturdays, curated by the Soil Sisters. It has seen many people come together to talk about soil and art and it has made me, amongst many others I am sure, aware how powerful art is as a medium to bring other issues to the fore in a safe and inclusive way. 

The joy of Soil Culture at Create for me has been the opening of a space for discussion around soil, it’s true importance in all of our lives and how it is so important for many of us across the city who make livings from or support soils and soil health and wellbeing in everything we do. My career of the last 20 or so years has been based around soil, my life based on the rich brown earth beneath our feet and to be able to meet and converse with people over that is something that is rare and beautiful.

The idea of a city creating a declaration for it’s own soils is at once powerful and brave. To do so says not only do we, as a group of individuals, care deeply about the soil in our city but we also care about food, people, education, agriculture, health and wellbeing, children, community and the city itself and it’s wealth and health. It says we care not just about today, but about a future for our forebears where they can have access to healthy food, outdoor space and recreation land in a city that is becoming more and more intensely populated. It speaks of a wish to create the most resilient city we can, going into a future that is unknown but is certain to be different from the now. 

Many have questioned why we might feel the need to create a declaration for soil, and some have asked why we might think it necessary. My answer is always that as a city we need good housing and transport links, excellent schools and services for all communities across the city, as well as a plan to feed all those people and to keep our local economy thriving. Creating a declaration for our city’s soil creates an opportunity to ensure that food growing and production is factored into the future planning of the city and creates a future of more certain health and wealth.

In order to create this declaration there was a hope that many people from many walks of life within the city would come together to work co-productively to create this document. This type of gathering is rare, but we were fortunate in our wishes and there were a whole mix of people, ranging across city council strategic directors to members, food policy council members, permaculture and growing professionals, members of nationally important organisations and people who are interested and care about the future of food and access to land in our city. At one, very powerful moment, there was a table working together that was made up of a city strategic planner, a university professor and soil activists from Rising Up who spent much time protesting around Bristol’s Blue Finger in February and March this year. To create a space where that is possible is remarkable and to be a part of something so powerful makes the whole event a day to remember.

The Soil Declaration itself is still being brought together by the facilitators of the day but what we came up with was a series of statements around soil’s importance in the city and its hinterlands that focussed on beliefs and actions to be taken around those beliefs. Having openly talked about this on social media it is clear that not only is Bristol the first city to embark on such an important piece of work, but that it is possible, and likely that others will follow suit.

For Bristol it is vital to protect land that is already being put at risk by development and to ensure that various things that have happened on our most precious soils, are stopped from happening again. Our Blue Finger of rich and fertile best and most versatile soil, that manages crops in all extremes, needs protection as does all BMV soil countrywide. By creating this Soil Declaration, Bristol is putting itself, in a citizen led movement, at the forefront of this enormous change in the way we look at our precious resources, and that is a hugely powerful and brave move. It should be applauded.

I do love cats but.........

I am not complaining! I live in the centre of Bristol and I have a garden, albeit smaller than the average hankie and with zero soil, but I have a garden!! But.....

In my last garden I had spent 10 years working on the biodiversity of the space, introducing bird feeders, bug hotels and the like and of course pests appeared from time to time, but they were kept to the minimum by the natural balance of the garden. We had blackbirds who sang from the trees, a mix of birds that included dunnocks and beautiful gold finches, toads, frogs, and even a hedgehog called Barry who regularly visited. So between all of this we had few issues with slugs or snails and certainly never was worried by anything any larger.

So as I have said I am very lucky to have a garden living, as I do, in the centre, (almost literally as we are a three and a half minute walk from the shopping centre of the city), but I didn't realise I ws going to have to share it with what appears to be every mollusc in the south west and I certainly wasn't aware that I was planting a space that would be seen as the best place to defacate by every single cat in Bristol. Yes-every single cat.*

The slugs and snails have been worked on with dawn and dusk raids on their slimey selves. Do not ask what they're fate has been-suffice to say they have been despatched thoroughly. They keep coming but they are lessened in their quantity and the ongoing raids are, I think, making them understand that they are not welcome. I have also adjusted my planting slightly so that there isn't quite as much that is irresistable to them and am considering buying some scarificial lambs in the name of Hostas in the spring in the hope that they might leave other stuff alone. 

But the cats...... What really galls is that they like to do their business in a raised bed that is opposite my bedroom window, so often my first sight in the morning as I open the curtains is of a cat doing it's business and seemingly grinning at me whilst doing so. Do I sound paranoid? Well perhaps but they have ignored everything. I bought one of the Coleus' that cats are supposed to detest and before we could see if it might work it had been munched during slugmaggedon. I chopped up bamboo canes and stood them upright in patches that had no plants to keep the cats off and they just breathed in and stood in between them. I asked them politely to please go away and I chased them off. I even got to the point of persuading the dog to growl in a butch manner at them and that failed too.

So when I was obviously ranting on Twitter and was asked by STVPest Free Living if I would like to trial their Dog and Cat Repellent Granules, I screamed yes, if somewhat cynically. They arrived just as a cat had left its calling card on a newly germinated tray of lettuce seedlings and I may have stood in the garden brandishing it, hoping that the neighbourhood cats and the rest, were listening and taking heed.

I have been using the granules for 3 weeks and, much to my amazement, they appear to be keeping the feline felons at bay, particularly the one who lives upstairs and I believe was inviting the others in, as she won't actually come into the garden at all. The granules don't smell offensive and are made of natural ingredients so I'm only too pleased to use them. If only they could make a product that was as gentle but as persuasive to the mollusc millions.....

So far, this is keeping those feline friends at bay...

A corner of the garden.

*Perhaps not every one although.....

I have received a free trial of the granules but no monies have exchanged hands so althought sponsored, not enough that I wouldn't be honest!!

Last week I visited Jimmy's Farm near Ipswich, where Thompson and Morgan have their new trial garden for a Press Day that they were organising for bloggers and tweeters. Michael Perry, Thompson and Morgan's New Product Development Manager had invited me and a group of other bloggers and so we set off from Bristol to the other side of the country to explore the new trial garden and talk with the product team about the plants that were being trialled in the garden. I'm well aware that I'm known more for vegetables these days but having been in the ornamental sector for a long time in my career, it's always interesting to see what's new in the ornamental world, and I knew there would be some vegetables too.

The gardens re-ignited something that I have often been heard to say and that is that bedding done well is a really effective way of filling in spaces in a garden, keeping the garden full of colour at times when other plants have either gone over or aren't quite at their best yet. For someone like me, a total plantholic as well as a hoticulturist, I cannot help but be impressed by the way the garden was set out, creating what actually could be a real garden whilst showing off new plants and different ways of growing.

So here are some photos of the plants.....

 A quite exceptional Amaranths, called Molten Lava, is definitely something I shall grow next year!

 Dianthus Tropical Butterfly, not just a great garden plant but also a fabulous cut flower with a long vase life.

 Petunia Starry Night is a beautiful plant that is still undegoing some trial work to ensure that the markings on it are stable but one to look out for in the future as it is quite extraordinary and would be fabulous in hanging baskets or pots on a patio.

 I am a huge fan of Zinnias and love them both as a garden plant and as a cut flower. This strain is really a garden variety as I'm not sure the blooms are big enough to be cut, but it looked spectacular in a huge swathe in one of the trial beds.

                                                Who can resisit a bee on a scabious plant?

 This photo shows the trial vegetable beds which unfortunately I didn't have the time to reaaly investigate as there was a wedding going on! But they looked amaxing in the distance.....

I'm well known for my love of marigolds both as a companion plant and in their own rights as very beautiful flowers. This is Jester-what's not to love?

If you're in the area I'd strongly suggest a visit to the gardens as they are open for all to visit. I think the best thing about this trial garden is that it is at an attraction that isn't at all linked to horticulture so for both Thompson and Morgan and the industry in general, it opens up the possibility of people visiting this garden and being inspired who generally aren't gardeners. There were also a fair few children and young people walking around the beds and to see these youngsters engaging with the garden was wonderful.

We left with a huge amount of goodies that included a massive bag of seeds, plants, biscuits and Thompson and Morgan's new feeds. There will be more on these in blog posts to come!!

Finally thank you to all at Thompson and Morgan for a great day.