Over the past year, climate change– perhaps more appropriately termed the ‘climate crisis’ in the wake of its urgency – has been hitting the headlines. Recent wildfires in Australia and floods closer to home bring the shocking reality of the situation to life. No longer is it a distant threat; the climate is changing now, with the weather turning ever more extreme and global temperatures already up a full degree Celsius over the past century. The rate of change is gathering pace too.
At first glance, gardening isn’t a huge contributor, but every aspect of our life contributes to our carbon footprint: from what we wear, to how we travel, the way we heat our homes, and, yes, how we garden. The good news is gardens can be a powerful force for good, helping to chip away at our impact and shining a light on the positive ways we can push back at this very grave threat.
This article concentrates on ways to lower the carbon footprint of how we garden, but many of the principles will also help to give wildlife a helping hand while making our neighbourhoods happier, healthier places to be.
GOODBYE PEAT
Talk of banning peat from compost and growing bags has been around for decades, so I’m unsure why it’s still available! Peatlands are an important store of carbon because they remove it from the atmosphere to sequester it (lock it up), frozen in time, as organic matter. Estimates put the carbon locked up in UK peat bogs as equivalent to eight years of the country’s entire carbon emissions. Draining and extracting peat releases prodigious quantities of carbon, while compromising the peatland’s ability to continue locking it up.
This story is from the June 2020 edition of Kitchen Garden.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the June 2020 edition of Kitchen Garden.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
DIGGING THE DIRT PARSNIP WARS
All's fair in love and war, as John Holloway recounts the friendly rivalry he shares with fellow allotmenteer Joe
FLAVOURSOME FRUIT GROWING IN CONTAINERS
Want to grow fruit in pots on your patio or in your backyard? Top tips and advice this month from fruit expert David Patch
ASPARAGUS TIPS
Asparagus can be expensive to buy in the shops, but given a little space and time, it’s easy to grow this gourmet treat in your own back garden. Here’s how...
THE CREATURE FEATURE Beauty and the thief
We all know how valuable bees are on the plot - without their pollinating power, our harvests would be pretty pathetic. This month, Jack Edmonds takes a look at some common April plot visitors, the mining bees, and the parasitic nomad bees out to spoil their fun...
Paying it forward
We meet Ross Pearson, a gardening writer and horticultural lecturer from Northumberland, who was inspired and helped by his grandfather and now passes on his experience to the next generation of gardeners
HARD TO BEET
Tony Flanagan offers a whistle-stop guide to growing this much-loved root and picks out some varieties you might like to try
FLOWERS TO feast on!
In this extract taken from A Floral Feast: A Guide to Growing and Cooking with Edible Flowers, Foliage, Herbs and Seeds, Carolyn Dunster focuses on three beautiful and popular annuals
HUW'S HEROES!
This month Huw Richards explains a method of organising your choice of crop varieties - with reliable stalwarts on the one side and those offering something more demanding on the other
Kitchen +Garden TOP PICKS
It's time to get growing and you'll need the very best products for sure-fire success this spring. Check out this selection of must-have products from some of our trusted partners, which should be on your shopping list this month
MIND THE GAP
Garden Organic's Anton Rosenfeld shows you how to plug the 'hungry gap' in spring and have ready supplies of home-grown food all year round