Saving the Earth One Garden at a Time

By KJ Revell

This book is both a horticultural chronicle charting the gardening year through the eyes and garden of the author and a call to arms to protect our gardens and wider environment from those who would seek to destroy them. The garden chemical industry eats away at the foundations of life causing unseen damage to the environment while its ubiquitous toxic products are widely advertised and sold in supermarkets alongside everyday items. Meanwhile developers and planners bury countless gardens and green spaces under layers of concrete and tarmac. Through the medium of compost the ground can be healed, soil can be restored, with sympathetic gardening techniques wildlife can be encouraged and the garden brought back to life. Attractive flowers, home grown fruit and vegetables will make it all seem worthwhile and help engage younger gardeners. It will encourage readers to think twice about their actions, open their eyes and make use of the green space available to them for the benefit of society as a whole. Use it or lose it is the theme that must be communicated to ensure gardening opportunities for future generations, for whom finding peaceful green space will be increasingly hard to find.

• Language: English
• Publisher: KJ Revell
• Release date: Nov 26, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310286506

KJ Revell

Born in Ipswich and raised in Saxmundham, Suffolk I was educated at Woodbridge School, Suffolk and University College Cardiff. Writing mainly on gardening and environmental matters in Cardiff Living magazines 'Saving the Earth Once Garden at a Time' is a collection of my garden writing charting the gardening year while advocating a more environmentally aware approach. 'Jack Lightfoot Goes Wild' was my first novel to be enjoyed by teenagers and adults young and old with an interest in wildlife, what might lie beyond the boundaries of perceived reality,After a lifetime steeped in horticulture, landscaping and garden retail, I now work at Caerphilly Garden Centre as Plant Area Manager where I am always available for help and advice on all gardening matters.I continue to live in north Cardiff with my partner Bernadette, son Torin, three chickens, a bearded dragon and a variety of small furry animals. When not sat at the computer, reading or listening to music, I am often found in the garden tending to my fruit trees and roses or walking in the wild Welsh countryside in search of inspiration and a nice pub serving good food and real ales. I believe tarka dall and chips to be the ultimate comfort food which fortunately harms no otters in its preparation. Live your dreams, (but not the ones that involve falling great distances!)

Book preview

I am possessed by the earth rather than possessing it in the material sense and must commune with it on a regular basis to appease the dryads and ensure a good harvest.

Snowdrops at the start of the gardening year

What Exactly is a Garden and Why do we Garden?

People have been around plants for thousands of years, ever since communities became settled in the Bronze Age we have secured boundaries to protect crops and livestock. Perhaps we are no longer economically dependent on our plot of land but we might grow a few fruit and vegetables, or plant some ornamental plants to improve the aesthetic and commercial value of the property. As the seasons turn we can see how relative views change to what has been described as ‘the national pastime’ of gardening among the older and younger generations. Attitudes now are considerably different to those held in the past and particularly those of our parents or grandparents fifty years ago when serried ranks of stridently coloured bedding plants were de rigueur while lawns were mown to within an inch of their lives with not a daisy in sight. Formal rose beds were fastidiously weeded at a time when labour was cheap and free time away from work, the television or computer screen was plentiful. Now we are relatively rich in terms of money to lavish on our gardens but poor in terms of leisure time to spend actually doing it, so brandishing our labour-saving devices we strive for low inputs with high rewards, planting low-maintenance borders. Gardening should be an enjoyable, captivating hobby with opportunities to learn new skills and hone established techniques in a relaxed environment, pottering around with all the time in the world, a welcome break from the stresses and strains of modern living. I am possessed by the earth rather than possessing it in the material sense and must commune with it on a regular basis to appease the dryads and ensure a good harvest. I feel a physical connection to it as it amplifies and gives form to changes in the weather as the seasons turn, in this sense little has changed since prehistoric times.

A garden must have a gardener to do the gardening or it becomes something else; plants must be planted and weeds weeded. Gardens enrich our lives and furnish our ecological niche with beauty, a meeting of the natural and human worlds within the external boundaries of a property, allowing the urban or suburban gardener to live closer to nature. Some wildlife like hedgehogs are encouraged or tolerated but some are not as wood pigeons and squirrels find to their cost. Selected plants are nurtured while others are discouraged if not altogether eradicated - weeds are a constant threat as nature fights back against the artificial construct. Sometimes a look at a wild meadow or plant community on a woodland floor will make us wonder if we could create something better but still we try to make our plots look good all year round. Even weeds or wildflowers can be beautiful in the right place and certainly attract more insects and birds than overbred garden plants. Many local authorities who now employ wildflower meadow style planting rather than high maintenance carpets of bedding. We don’t all have rolling acres or discrete gardens within gardens but what we have is precious and allows us the space to express ourselves as we see fit; whether that is by planting shrubs or herbaceous perennials, installing sheds or sculptures, decking or children's play equipment, is entirely up to us.

Can Gardening Save the Earth?

Having planted a pot or hanging basket outside your house it is easy to feel smug, thinking that you have done your bit to improve environment but it is not as simple as that. What if the peat in the compost has been extracted from an endangered peat bog? What about transport costs if the plants have been imported from another country and if they have been treated with insecticides how will that impact on our bee populations? Ironically it may be that in trying to do our bit for the earth we are actually contributing to its destruction. Sometimes when tending the garden it feels that all is well with the world with birds singing in the trees and bees and butterflies busy among the flowers. By making a garden we can enhance the local environment while making an attractive home for wildlife. Few gardens can be described as entirely natural but today we strive to garden with a lighter touch to encourage wildlife, to control less and understand more, to use less chemicals and fertilisers and weed a little less. Increasingly we must cater for the natural world which is fast being squeezed out of the countryside by modern agriculture, urban sprawl and human activity, then again what exactly is natural? A meadow is merely the result of a particular grazing regime and only grows abundant wildflowers when deprived of artificial fertiliser for a number of years. Most woodland is either planted or secondary, having invaded formally cultivated ground in the last few centuries. Gardening for wildlife is an increasingly popular ethos and few would deny the need to encourage bees and birds but perhaps we need to encompass all that arrives in the garden, pests and all. Those at the base of the food chain encourage biodiversity; it seems perverse to feed birds in the winter only to starve them of their natural food in the spring and summer. Understanding the importance of soil and home composting provides numerous opportunities for invertebrate and microbial life and enables us to recycle materials within the garden while providing free soil improver to enrich the soil and boost the growth of garden plants, making us less dependent on local authorities and garden centres.

Some see the garden merely as an extension of the house; some property developers take this a little too literally, the recent garden grabbing trend has been blight on our towns and cities as attractive corner plots have disappeared under extensions or new houses have sprung up in spacious back gardens. Front gardens have disappeared under concrete and tarmac to cater for increasing car ownership but at the cost of increased runoff into drains which enters watercourses to exacerbate potential flooding downstream. The patio and decks, trampolines and swing frames cater for the human aspect of gardens and enable us to spend time living and relaxing outdoors in the comfort of our own home surrounded by our families and friends but increasingly overlooked and disturbed by our neighbours. Private quiet time is hard to come by, we need to get the balance right and not overdevelop our gardens, plants and trees should provide the main focus. The peace and quiet found in quiet corners of private gardens is to be cherished and not necessarily shared with all the neighbours.

The modern trend for grow your own, or rather the rediscovered old habit of growing fruit and vegetables for home use is a welcome development. Some fruit trees such as the Bramley apple are capable of growing to an unexpected size taking the large harvest well out of reach while condemning the owner to a blizzard of windfalls but dwarfing rootstocks enable us to contain a number of fruit trees within modern small gardens. Often I am overwhelmed with fruit, but sometimes there is a crop failure, there is always another year, bad seasons are soon forgotten, years of plenty live long in the memory to produce a glut which will result in time spent in the kitchen turning the glut into jams, pickles, cakes and a range of desserts. Fruit growing gives high returns for relatively little input, once the trees or bushes are planted they will crop reliably for years. Vegetable growing on the other hand is quite demanding, you will literally get out of it what you put into it but if ignored your precious crops will invariably succumb to drought, pestilence or disease. Many of us take on allotments with the best intentions but when confronted with the sheer amount of work required, wilt under the pressure and leave the plots to go fallow much to the annoyance of fellow plot holders and a sizable waiting list. It need not be hard work however as crops can be grown in pots on the patio or in hanging baskets to keep them out of the way of hungry slugs and snails. Even a window box can be used to grow fresh herbs and a few salad crops so no matter how small or large your plot you can enjoy fresh produce minutes after picking which will maximise the taste and nutritional value.

Is Gardening Cool?

Most people who garden would probably not give a fig whether it was or not but it may be important to a younger generation who seem to need the reassurance of acceptability within their peer group or online community before pursuing any activity. If it were measured in terms of the amount of money lavished by corporate sponsors on the show gardens at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, we might assume the answer to be a resounding ‘yes’ but the reality is that these shows have very little to do with day to day gardening experienced by the majority of the population and were it not for the disproportionate media coverage we would scarcely be aware of their passing. The activities of Chelsea Football Club are far removed from lower league football though the rules are the same, the rewards and publicity are vastly different but much enjoyment can be derived from watching or participating in either. The village hall horticultural show and allotment produce competitions probably have more relevance to a larger proportion of the population but these activities are apparently rather un-cool. The perceived wisdom is that an older generation do gardening in a way that is not attractive to the younger generation who are more interested in their decks, patios, gadgets and how plants look and are less concerned with how to look after them. Few of us today grow our own cut flowers but even these are making something of a comeback as we become aware of the folly of buying supermarket flowers flown in from around the globe. Post-war it was a necessity to grow fruit and vegetables to keep the family fed. In today's similarly austere times many have been drawn in by the grow-your-own trend and look to do something healthy for the children. Sustainable healthy living - what’s not to like? What else connects people with nature, provides passive exercise, reduces stress and is good wholesome fun in the fresh air? An interest in wildlife will soon encourage us to provide year round flowers for the bees or berries and seeds for the birds, throw in a tree or two and before you know it a garden has been created.

Whatever you do in your garden just do something. Make use of the precious resource