Consuming Ideas - Ecological Gardening, Rewilding & Soil
This past couple of weeks I’ve been trying to consume ideas rather than items (although I’m not sure where my book buying habit sits), so for this Wednesday here are the ideas I have been indulging in:
Front Gardening - I’ve just caught up and read Ben Dark’s first book, The Grove: A Nature Odyssey in 19 1/2 Front Gardens. A romp up and down one street in Camberwell meeting all sorts of plants and people on the way. I loved it, and I now know so many things about city plants. Ben is my main inspiration for turning my London front garden into a country cottage garden. Let’s get climbing rose planted and a little bench installed, I can’t wait.
A podcast I actually want to keep listening too - Sarah Wilson’s Roots and All. I’m kind of obsessed. Start with Episode 179 - Sid Hill talks about ecological gardening, and I just want him to keep talking and tell me everything. He grew up literally living and growing in a permaculture - he knows so much!
And once you’re done, move onto Episode 178 - all about 3 guys (maybe there is 4 of them) who have started ‘alternative allotments’ in Bath and Bristol. For the same price as a Netflix account you can have your own little space to grow, and even better they’ll make the soil all nice before you arrive and give you a tour and intro on site to get your started off. I hope they find a site in Wandsworth soon!
And of course your next Episode should be 175 with Charles Dowdin,g as now you have your allotment you need to learn how to ‘No Dig’ dig…. Ok and also Episode 181, back full circle to ecological gardening with Darryl Moore as his new book Gardening in a Changing World has just come out and he knows his stuff.
Comforting Recipes + Soil - The Land Gardeners new book Soil to Table. I love the large impratical size of this book and that they have obviously loved putting it all together. The recipes are a real treat, I instantly made the pikelets for tea (how simple, how did I not know this?!) and I really love all the try and get your food as locally as possible recommendations and ideas.
A garden rewilding experiment - the Knepp Castle ‘Wilding the Garden’ blog. I haven’t fully indulged in this yet, but they have been up to all sorts since 2020, and the final phase of planting went down this past Spring. In the Kitchen Garden they are maximising productivity and soil health - makes sense. More excitingly, in the Pool Garden they are just planting loads and loads of different plants for a ‘great species diversity’. Both Jekka McVicar and Tom Stuart Smith are involved, it really is exciting stuff.
Rainforest destruction on camera - Richard Mosse’s immersive video installation Broken Spectre is 3 years of filming the Brazilian rainforest and starkly shows us exactly what is going on. I haven’t seen it yet, and I’m almost not sure I want to. But perhaps it’s the jolt I need to start taking climate change seriously. Perhaps the one we all need.
To finish, I feel a bit sad to hear that the King (that would be Charles III) has been advised not to attend COP27. I hope Liz and her pals let him go!
Ok my one indulgent consumable item - an eco, sustainable, plant-based, BPA free, made in the UK yoga mat from Complete Unity Yoga. Hope I’m not being green-washed…. I went for the Natural colour, and it is rather nice!
