My Global Garden

Garden for a living London

13. March 2010

Living half my time in London and half in East Sussex since January has really made me appreciate the positive impact of green spaces .I realise how crucial it is to my way of life to have contact with plants, flowers and anything green on a daily basis. There are lots of opportunities for Londoners to [...]

Climate change makes trees grow faster

11. March 2010

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A recent study of trees in eastern America suggests that forests could be growing faster now than they were 200 years ago as a result of climate change.The trees appear to have accelerated growth rates due to longer growing seasons and higher concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The study in Maryland suggests that this [...]

Grow your own in local skips

8. March 2010

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Gardeners are being encouraged to grow carrots in skips on building sites and tomatoes in hospital car parks under new plans to increase the amount of land available for grow-your-own vegetables. The Government is setting up a national “Landbank” that will link keen gardeners with public or private land available in their area where they might [...]

Spring in a box

7. March 2010

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Beautiful sunshine tempted me into the garden early this morning but a biting wind soon sent me back indoors. I suppose this puts me into the category of fair weather gardener? My enthusiasm to get gardening is not just down to the sunshine today. I have been inspired by a beautiful leaflet I just received from [...]

Met Office weathers climate criticisms

6. March 2010

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The Met Office is in the news this week . Firstly they published an influencial review of more than 100 scientific studies that track the observed changes in the Earth’s climate system. The aim is to restore faith in scientific data following recent adverse publicity centred around the University of East Anglia Climate Change e-mail [...]

1st March - Spring delights

1. March 2010

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March is here at last and with it the tell tale signs that spring is coming - found these adorable crocus in Gordon Square in central London. I love wandering round the many beautiful London squares spotting which plants are growing well in the polluted but warmer air. The heat from buildings and the huge amount [...]

How can I get a water metre?

28. February 2010

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Following on from my last blog about water companies, I thought it would be helpful to provide a link which explains how to measure exactly what water you use by getting a water metre installed.There are 20 water companies in the UK and most of them are able to provide metres if you request one: http://www.water-guide.org.uk/companies.html This [...]

Summer water turns to gold

27. February 2010

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Summer gardening has just taken on a new dimension this week with the announcement by my local water authority that they are going to charge more for mains water during certain months. Southern Water is to be the first utility company to charge extra to supply water to more than a million customers from 1st [...]

RHS grow fruit and veg by phone

26. February 2010

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The RHS have just launched a free innovative RHS Grow Your Own iphone app at http://www.rhs.org.uk/iphone This is part of an excellent on-line campaign to encourage Grow Your Own in 2010.The aim is to build a UK map showing where people are growing their own produce and to find out what crops are most popular. 15,ooo individuals [...]

Londoners have their say on climate change

25. February 2010

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Londoners are growing their own food, exploring ways to harvest rainwater, thinking about what plants they grow in their garden. I notice this from the number of London hits to my blog . People living in the capital are interested in adapting to climate change in their homes and gardens. Mayor of London Boris Johnson is keen to tap into this [...]