Fourteen years ago, almost to the day, I sat at my computer to write an article for this magazine about sustainability in the garden. I confess I had not looked at it, or even remembered I had written it, until preparing for this piece. But the topic of sustainability in our gardens could not be hotter. So, I looked back and re-read it to see what had changed in the past decade and a half. The depressing truth is that the answer is - not much. A lot of talk, some minor action and we are still gardening as though our resources are limitless.
Fourteen years ago, my tone was slightly defensive about climate change, knowing that perhaps 20 per cent of the readership either did not believe such a thing existed or regarded it as a climatic blip. That at least has changed completely. Only the hardwired deniers still challenge man-made climate change and only the foolish refuse to engage with it. It is the single biggest challenge that mankind has ever faced and we can either go into our gardens to escape it - which is doomed to failure because all our gardens are right on the front line of climate change-or accept that all of us who garden can do more than most to make a real difference.
Oil still dominates the whole issue. All of us who garden take it for granted that our plants are delivered by vehicles to garden centres, grown with heat, potted in plastic, labelled with plastic - I could go on. Our green gardens are built on a lake of black oil.
But a real change for the better in the past 14 years has been the rise and availability of good battery-powered garden machinery with a corresponding decrease in petrol usage and noise. At Longmeadow, we now use battery-operated hedge cutters, strimmers, mowers, chainsaws, blowers and drills as a matter of course. We have petrol long grass cutters and rotavators but these are 20 years old and used less and less.
この記事は Gardeners World の December 2021 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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この記事は Gardeners World の December 2021 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
We love June
We're cruising towards midsummer: this is a month full of love and abundance. Wherever you look there will be something in your garden that lifts the spirits and makes you glad to be alive. We have colour to cheer us, we have leaves that still have the bounce and freshness of small puppies, we have the first berries fattening up, there are birds frantically parenting very demanding broods of chicks, the bees are all over the place, it's prime barbecue and picnic season, and we have lawns as lush and green as billiard tables. What a month to fall in love.
Your wildlife month
The female will usually lay one clutch of up to eight eggs
An edible garden in pots
Join Lucy Bellamy in creating an edible container garden for all seasons, as she harvests what's ripe now and starts later-season crops
Garden craft with kids
Fill the summer holidays with fun nature makes for kids, including botanical printed t-shirts, seed sowing in upcycled food containers and a hanging home for beneficial insects. Jaime Johnson and family show you how
Secrets of a COLOURFUL GARDEN
Using a colour theme is an easy way to give any garden a strong, unified character - Nick Bailey shows you how
Indoor plants, outdoor treats
Break the rules and give your house plants a summer holiday, with Michael Perry's mixed pot display ideas
YOUR PRUNING MONTH
The first few weeks of summer are a good time to get spring-flowering plants in shape. Follow Frances' guide for best results
Gardening for wellbeing
As the pressures of modern living bear down, our outside spaces can provide soothing respite for our minds and bodies, says Arit Anderson
Your greenhouse guide to A fruitful summer
Get the best from your greenhouse fruit and vegetable crops this summer, with these tried and trusted growing tips from Adam Frost
Stars of the show
Agapanthus is the perfect midsummer plant, flowering with spectacular blooms from June onwards and, as Monty explains, it loves to grow in a pot