My Global Garden

Hardiness zones must adapt to climate change

25. October 2009

Following on from my last blog , I think it is time to re-visit the issue of hardiness zones. What defines the “hardiness” of a plant? If you define hardiness as “a plant’s ability to survive in adverse conditions” then the lowest temperature of an area - traditionally used as a bench-mark in the UK - is not the only factor [...]

LA values its rainfall

8. October 2009

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Check out how advanced America is when it comes to rainwater harvesting http://www.larainwaterharvesting.org/ The City of Los Angeles rolled out the City’s first FREE rainwater harvesting systems in July 2009. Maybe Boris will put this on his Green list for London?

Growing season lengthens by 1 month

28. September 2009

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The growing season for plants is now longer than at any time since records began in 1772. Since 1900 it has lengthened by 30 days - a whole month - which makes a real difference to the range of vegetables that can be grown succesfully in the UK. According to UKCIP, predictions are that the growing [...]

Americans rant on lawn issues

19. September 2009

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The issue of maintaining America’s 25 million acres of lawn that use a staggering 3 million tons of fertilisers continues. Just found this newly launched web-site from the wonderful ladies who set up Garden Rant, a popular gardening blog in the USA who, like me are utterly convinced that GARDENING MATTERS! Check out : http://www.gardenrant.com/ http://www.lawnreform.org/ http://www.sustainablegardeningblog.com/archives/2330

Harvest that rain water

9. September 2009

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Water is one of the most important infrastructure issues in the world today. Population growth, environmental concerns, drought conditions and the restriction of sufficiently large fresh waterways close to metropolitan areas have driven the necessity to find alternative solutions. Water availability per person is decreasing (Figure 1), while water withdrawal per person is increasing (Figure 2). [...]

Less lawn is more

3. September 2009

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Having just updated my monthly Lawn Diary, it seemed a good time to mention that reducing the size of your lawn is the path to a greener garden. With increasing pressure on water supplies and the need to reduce carbon emissions, reducing our lawns - or maybe getting rid of them completely - is becoming an [...]

Mini NASA allotment targets “space” savers

30. July 2009

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If you are a long way down the waiting list to get a local allotment from your council, then NASA have designed one for astronauts that may be just the answer. It uses no water or soil, just requires a power supply as reported by the Daily Mail: The Power Plant Growing Machine was designed by [...]

Heatwave in the garden

30. June 2009

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Here are CLIMATE CHANGE tips to survive high temperatures: Choose drought tolerant plants such as agave, cannas, lavender, sedums, budlia, cystus, agapanthas and many more - visit http://www.myglobalgarden.com/blog/plant-collection Letting your plants have a good soak every couple of days will be of more benefit than little and often watering as this does not encourage the plants to [...]

US gardeners guide to global warming/ weirding?

8. June 2009

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The effects of climate change on American gardens varies enormously from one State to the next: http://www.nwf.org/gardenersguide/ Garden writer Anne Raver of The New York Times was the first to label the trend as “global weirding”” http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/2008-04-01/Hardiness-Zone-Changes.aspx

World Environment Day highlights Climate Change

5. June 2009

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World Environment Day highlights Climate Change

The theme for WED 2009 is ‘Your Planet Needs You-UNite to Combat Climate Change’. It reflects the urgency for nations to agree on a new deal at the crucial climate convention meeting in Copenhagen some 180 days later in the year, and the links with overcoming poverty and improved management of forests. Visit http://twitter.com/unepandyou to make [...]