Thought I would share them with you:

Weather Forecasting 

The science of telling, with 70% accuracy, what the weather has just been

Climate Control 

 An essential decrease in consumerism to avoid climatic catastrophe

Water Companies

A business that sells back the rain that falls on you.

Snow and freezing temperatures are hitting the UK this week.Not good news for many plants that started to flower after such a mild winter.  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/9047479/Snow-to-hit-Britain-as-freezing-temperatures-sweep-country.html

 However, predictions are that by the 2050s London temperatures will exceed the official definition of a heatwave - 32C by day with 18C by night – for more than a third of the summer.http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-24031213-london-facing-killer-summers-in-climate-peril.do

Where does these leave our plants? Totally confused and challenged by the shifting temperatures which are bringing major changes to UK gardens. Time to change the way we garden? Let me know your thoughts and ideas for a new website coming soon at www. weathertogarden.com. Please post comments  here or email me directly at hello@globalgardening.org. Thanks!

The UK is set for some heavy downpours over the next few days which is good news for gardeners  – my water butt is almost empty and the ground is very hard.

The Environment Agency have been very concerned about the water supply situation and issued this update just a few weeks ago.

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/static/documents/Leisure/31_Drought_management_briefing_12_Jan_12.pdf

Its easy to fit a water butt and they can make a real difference in times of drought. Check out these websites for advice and stockists.

http://www.savewater.co.uk/

http://waterbuttsdirect.co.uk/

http://www.dobbies.co.uk/acatalog/Water-Butts.html

http://www.mygreenerhome.co.uk/water-butts-14/750-litre-wall-tank-water-butt-71.html

http://www.crocus.co.uk/products/_/tools/water-butts/prcid.97/

London in Bloom want to use the 2012 London Olympics as a catalyst to improve the number of meadows and wild flowers growing in london.

 The aim is to promote the celebration and creation of both wildflower meadows and nectar rich plantings in order to encourage community engagement, enhance the local environment and increase biodiversity.

http://www.londoninbloom.co.uk/news.phtml

The finding continues a trend in which nine of the 10 warmest years in the modern meteorological record have occurred since the year 2000.
 http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2011-temps.html

Time to consider different trees/plants to plan for a warmer yet unpredictable future?

 Love these lemons growing outdoors in Cornwall last summer.

*A single mature tree can absorb carbon dioxide at a rate of 48 lbs./year and release enough oxygen back into the atmosphere to support 2 human beings.” 

http://chemistry.about.com/od/environmentalchemistry/f/oxygen-produced-by-trees.htm

With the world population now at a staggering 7 billion, the importance of  preserving our existing trees and planting new ones  in over crowded cities has never been more important.

London has a population of about 9 million with around 1.75 million people living in areas that are further than 1km from an open space containing nature or wildlife.

To make their environment more green, Londoners can now log onto http://www.london.gov.uk/streettrees and request a tree be planted outside their homes using a brilliant scheme that  Mayor Boris has created.

This programme has already planted 9,500 of the 10,000 trees it wants to have in place across the capital by 2012 in 40 areas chosen by a panel of experts including Trees for Cities, the London Tree Officers Association and the Forestry Commission. http://www.london.gov.uk/priorities/environment/urban-space/releaf-london

There are manyother projects in various UK locations that are run by Trees for Cities – check out your local tree planting project at: http://www.treesforcities.org/how-we-help/our-projects/

Tree-lined streets only have 10-15% of the dust of a street without trees and are on average  6-10C cooler. They also absorb traffic noise, provide habitats for wildlife and, most importantly, mitigate the effects of global warming by absorbing carbon dioxide.

They look beautiful as well – especially when the blossom is out !

Having just blogged about planting seeds to” grow bread” in the garden, I thought I should point out that actually 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 extremely topical issue.

In the USA, 58 million Americans spend £30 billion a year maintaining over 25 million acres of lawn. Add  a staggering 3 million tons of fertilisers and you can see why the move to reduce the number of lawns is really gathering momentum in America. This includes a national campaign  at http://www.foodnotlawns.com which is attracting interest from the green movement and equal amounts of  opposition from parties with a vested interest in the supply of turf and garden chemicals.

I realise that English gardens are defined by their immaculate lawns so opposition to foodnotlawns might be high in the UK. However, read these few facts to help decide whether your lawn stays or goes:

*  The pollution emitted from a power mower in just one hour is equal to the amount from a car being driven 45 miles. http://www.epa.gov/greenacres/wildones/handbk/wo8.html

*Lawns use ten times as many chemicals per acre as industrial farmland. Some 60% of all fertilisers and pesticides used on lawns run off into our groundwater and evaporate into the air, causing widespread pollution

* Lawns in the United States consume around 270 billion gallons of water a week—enough to water 81 million acres of organic vegetables, all summer long.In fact, lawns use more equipment, labour, fuel, and agricultural toxins than industrial farming, making lawns the largest agricultural sector in the United States.

* It’s not just the residential lawns that are wasted on grass. There are around 700,000 athletic grounds and 14,500 golf courses in the United States, many of which used to be fertile, productive farmland that was lost to developers when the local markets bottomed out.

 EXPLORE THESE IDEAS FOR REDUCING THE SIZE OF YOUR LAWN

Plant a hedge. The least-used parts of your lawn are most likely on the edge of your property. Create privacy and visual interest by planting a “tapestry hedge” with mixed shrubs.
• Build a pond, patio, or island bed in the center of your lawn. Create a visual focal point, a place for entertaining, or a habitat for attracting wildlife.
• Create a tree island. If you have one or more trees in the middle of your yard, chances are the grass that grows underneath isn’t that healthy. Why not plant ground cover, perennials, or woodland plants under your tree instead?[3]
• Devote part of your yard to wildflowers, drought-tolerant grasses, and other native plantings.
• Practice xeriscaping using plants to replace part of your water-hungry lawn

Explore this web-site for more inspirational ideas http://www.lesslawn.com/

An application has been submitted to Kent County Council seeking consent to excavate shingle from this precious corner of the coast for use in flood defenses in neighbouring counties

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jan/15/shingle-plan-dungeness

LATEST: Kenty County Council is holding a public meeting on Tuesday, 17 January 2012 at 6.30 pm at the Lydd Community Hall (Manor Road, Lydd, TN29 9HU). http://www.lovedungeness.org/

Perfect weather for getting out into the garden!

The company said last year’s “exceptionally dry weather” means the threat of a drought this summer “remains real”.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-16499471

Photo of the River Lee in Essex showing low water levels this winter