The Green Village News for the ‘Grow Your Own’ Category
Thursday, August 13th, 2009
It’s National Allotment Week and across the UK different events have been taking place to spread the word about growing your own. From open days at allotment gardens across the UK to a scarecrow competition launched by an Elvis impersonating scarecrow at the Eden Project in Cornwall, and plenty more to come before the week is out.
As well as enjoying a family day out at one of the events taking place, it is the ideal time to get some last minute gardening in before the end of the season. There are still plenty of different vegetables you can try your hand at, including radishes, carrots, turnips and beetroot, and, there are varieties of cabbage and lettuce that can be grown all year round.
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Tags: allotment, fruit, herbs, vegetable plot, vegetables
Posted in Events and Courses, Green Family, Green Living, Grow Your Own | No Comments
Thursday, August 6th, 2009
Britain’s declining bee numbers have been cause for concern but the new beehive by Omlet could be the answer for boosting bee populations. The beehaus, backed by Natural England, is being dubbed as the urban beehive and has been designed to make it easy to keep bees in a garden or on a rooftop, helping ensure pollination of fruit and vegetables and providing up to 50 jars of honey over the summer.
Recently there have been concerns about the effects of poor weather, varroa mites and even pesticide use having detrimental effects on the bee populations of the UK, effects which are also being felt around the world. Bees are crucial for pollinating food crops and the honey market, and although more people are becoming aware of the downturn in numbers and taking action such as planting wildlife gardens with plants that attract bees such as rosemary and lavender, more still needs to be done to secure their future and the important role they play. The beehaus could be one answer to this, making urban beekeeping an option.
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Tags: bee hive, beehaus, beekeeping, bees, honey, natural england, omlet, pollination, urban beekeeping, varroa mite
Posted in Companies and Organisations, Conservation and Wildlife, Green Living, Green Planet, Grow Your Own, Self-Sufficiency | No Comments
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009
Waiting lists of up to 9 years across different areas of Wales have led to calls for more to be done to increase growing spaces across the country. Growing your own vegetables is becoming ever more popular, with allotments still being the prime location for most if they can get their hands on a vacant plot.
The summit, which took place at the Welsh Assembly in Cardiff, aims to address the problem of waiting lists and how more allotment sites can be made available to the communities who want them, but is also looking to provide those with private allotments with more rights. Although legally councils should provide more growing spaces if people within the community are demanding them, this law is not being upheld in a lot of cases.
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Tags: allotment, fruit, Grow Your Own, landshare, the good life, vegetables, wales
Posted in Environmental Politics, Food and Farming, Green Living, Green Planet, Grow Your Own | No Comments
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009
Film director Guy Ritchie has submitted proposals to make Ashcombe House in Wiltshire “more self-sufficient”. 40 year old Ritchie received the home as part of the settlement following his split with Queen of pop Madonna and is looking to put plans into place that will make the 18th Century estate, worth £9 million, a greener, more sustainable place to live.
The plans submitted to Wiltshire County Council include proposals to reinstate vegetable gardens in the partially walled garden located between the staff building and the rear entrance to the House, and to build three large greenhouses, costing £250,000. The glasshouses will be specifically designed to ‘carefully match the style and colour mix of the house’.
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Tags: ashcombe house, Eco Home, greenhouses, guy ritchie, Self-Sufficiency, vegetables, woodchip boiler
Posted in Eco Home, Green Living, Grow Your Own, Self-Sufficiency | No Comments
Sunday, July 12th, 2009
At a time when allotment waiting lists are as long as your arm and people are looking for different ways to get their own bit of ‘The Good Life’ by growing their own veg, National Trust has come up with the perfect solution. Window boxes.
With 600 acres of window box space across the UK, National Trust have launched a new campaign that aims to spread the word about using this potentially valuable space to provide fresh vegetables and herbs for the kitchen. There are many options available for growing in small spaces, with some varieties of lettuce being particularly good for growing in pots, especially varieties you can cut to come again; tumbling tomatoes that grow well in hanging baskets or window boxes providing fresh cherry tomatoes through the summer, and even beetroot. If you don’t fancy growing vegetables, there are plenty of varieties of herbs that you could try your hand at.
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Tags: container gardening, Grow Your Own, herbs, national trust, vegetables, window boxes
Posted in Companies and Organisations, Food and Farming, Green Family, Green Living, Green Planet, Grow Your Own, Self-Sufficiency | No Comments
Thursday, May 14th, 2009
Pre-school children at a day school in Lake Forest, California, have been going green recently with a number of initiatives to involve the children and make them more aware of the environment.
Activities the youngsters are getting involved with include recycling, growing their own vegetables, such as lettuces grown in empty milk cartons in the school greenhouse which have now been transplanted to the playground, and making their own vermicompost by feeding worms their leftover food waste.
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Tags: california, composting, green schools, Grow Your Own, lake forest day school
Posted in Environmental Impact, Green Living, Green Planet, Grow Your Own, Recycling and Waste | No Comments
Monday, April 27th, 2009
National Trust has joined with Natural England to begin a project to bring awareness and conservation to the traditional orchard. Traditional orchards are in danger of becoming a thing of the past, with most fruit trees now being grown intensively with the use of chemicals and small scale fruit producers having been hit by difficult economic situations over the years.
One of the major reasons behind the project is concern for the future of many rare varieties of apple, such as the Polly White Hair and the Hangy-Down. Plum and pear varieties are also affected, as are habitats of creatures such as bats, birds, insects and small mammals. National Trust’s head of nature conservation, David Bullock, commented,
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Tags: apples, biodiversity, natural england, orchards, the national trust
Posted in Companies and Organisations, Conservation and Wildlife, Green Living, Green Planet, Grow Your Own | 1 Comment
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
Viewers were introduced to a range of herbal remedies and beauty products that are quick and easy for anybody to make in their own homes on last night’s ‘Grow Your Own Drugs’. This week’s episode, which focussed on the healing powers of herbs, featured a peppermint body scrub and a coldsore curing lip salve made from lemon balm.
Lemon balm is a pretty herb that is very easy to grow, and contains natural chemicals to treat inflammation and fight against viral infections such as troublesome coldsores. The balm was made using 21 chopped tablespoons of the herb, which grows profusely so a good trim back of the plant would give you plenty for the recipe.
Another recipe featured was a breath freshening spray, aimed at helping wean people off their reliance on chewing gum and mints. The spray was made from a thyme, mint and eucalyptus tincture, which is left in alcohol for a month until ready for use. The spray works by making use of the antibacterial properties of the majority of the ingredients, especially thymol, the active ingredient contained in thyme. A make-up artist who frequently used mints because of close contact with clients tried the spray and found it to be very effective.
James Wong also introduced viewers to the healing properties of the plantain, which grows in most garden lawns, and contains natural sterols which act as an antihystamine, and polyphenols which help calm inflammation. The plant can be used to sooth insect bites and stings such as nettle stings, bringing relief from the itching that people experience. He showed how simple it can be to make your own cream that can be stored in the fridge, or even the freezer, for use at a later date. The series is currently available on BBC’s iplayer, and the recipes are available on the Grow Your Own Drugs website.
Tags: bite and sting cream, breath spray, cold sore remedy, grow your own drugs, herbal remedies, herbs
Posted in Green Living, Grow Your Own, Health and Wellbeing | No Comments
Monday, March 23rd, 2009
The south lawn of The White House is to once again become an organic garden, providing fresh, organic vegetables for The White House kitchen, and leading by example, demonstrating to the American people just what can be achieved in the average garden space. This is the first time that a veg garden has been in use at The White House since the “Dig For Victory” campaigns of World War II.
Campaign group Eat the View, who aim to get high impact gardens installed in high profile places, put pressure on the Obamas to join in and plant a kitchen garden at The White House. First Lady, Michelle Obama has said that the motive behind the kitchen garden is that passers-by will see the garden and the goodness being produced there and be inspired to plant and grow their own vegetables and produce at home.
The drive comes at a time when obesity is at a high in America, and educating people and children alike about the nutrional value of food, and the health benefits that can come from eating home grown veg is high on the agenda. Both in terms of knowing what your food has grown in, and had put on it, and also the exercise you get maintaining the plot, there are no negatives to getting involved and growing some veg for yourself!
Tags: barack obama, kitchen garden, organic gardening, the white house
Posted in Environmental Politics, Ethical shopping, Green Living, Green Planet, Grow Your Own | No Comments
Friday, March 20th, 2009
Garden centres throughout the country are struggling to keep up with the demand of consumers wanting peat and other compost products as the grow-your-own bug kicks in. The recession has led to garden centres buying in less of the products, forcing them to re-stock as soon as possible.
The continuing good weather has brought out customers in their droves, as they prepare to grow more of their own food this year. With campaigns such as ‘Dig In’ run by the BBC, demand is only likely to increase.
This can only be a good sign; if more people are growing their own food, it will put less pressure on agriculture and transport and will reduce the amount of food imported into the UK. Not only that but it sends a clear message to government that more must be done to help people who want to grow their own food.
If you want learn more about growing your own, look out for articles within the the grow your own section.
Tags: compost, garden centres
Posted in Food and Farming, Grow Your Own | 1 Comment
