OMG - say goodbye to peat-based compost

In March I blogged that peat-based composts were on their way out and by 2020 us gardeners would have to be 100% peat free. I kinda had my fingers crossed when the new government were installed in May that they would think this was a rubbish idea and would drop it like a steaming hot peat bog.

It looks like keeping your fingers crossed just isn't enough these days – Defra has published a consultation outlining proposals to phase out the use of peat by 2030. Another 10 years grace? No sadly not, the 2030 date is for nurseries. So, here is the proposed timescale:

• Phase out peat use in local authorities and the wider public sector by 2015.
• Phase out peat in the amateur gardening market by 2020.
• Phase out peat use by growers and producers by 2030.

There is one glimmer of light. The proposals recommend conducting a comprehensive review of progress in 2015. Maybe then they'll realise it's a bad idea. Or maybe I'll be dead by 2020 and won't have to worry about it!

Bah, humbug - merry peat-free Christmas.

Google Adwords want to thank me

I've just received a personal thank you from Google Adwords for advertising with them.
If you want to see it, go to http://www.youtube.com/adwords10?x=93d0b20d87d44fc2b496ba94fc4866d2
Makes me feel all warm inside.

Unemployed TV & magazine gardeners

I'm glad I got made redundant last year, as I've had 12 months to get my feet under the table freelancing. If it had been this year there would have been a bit of extra competition. Toby Buckland and Alys Fowler have just been dumped from Gardeners' World TV and Monty is back as main presenter. I understand it'll be filmed in his garden, so having wasted two years of my TV licence money building the TV garden in Birmingham, it'll now be dismantled and I'll be donating my money to Monty to develop his back yard. Hmmm, what a waste.

If you want a good laugh, visit sea-of-immeasurable-gravy.blogspot.com  The GW RIP video is hysterical - well I thought so.

Also, my good friend Ian Hodgson has been made redundant, sorry his position as Editor-in-Chief has been made redundant, from the RHS The Garden magazine.

And then I hear that Bauer, who own the lovely Garden News, which I write for every fortnight, is looking to buy BBC magazines - which includes Gardeners' World Magazine.

It's all go in the heady world of garden journalism and it's not even Christmas yet.

Winter woes

Looks like the British nursery trade will be getting some more money from me next year.
The weather this winter means that some of the plants in my garden are going to struggle to make it through. It's not only that it's cold - flaming cold - but it's the extent and duration of the cold snap.
Currently it is -5.5C, the coldest it has gone down to in the last two weeks is -9.5C, but apart from Sunday, the temperature hasn't lifted above freezing during that time.
Extensive, long cold periods mean that plant roots freeze and, as a result, can't absorb water so it's like they're in 'drought' conditions. Also, as water freezes, it expands, so plant cells literally explode as the mercury drops.
It's even worse for plants in containers as the roots don't have the surrounding insulating soil to keep them warmer.
At the beginning of this year, after the 2009/2010 winter I got inundated with e-mails from people worried about plants coming through the winter. Surprisingly in some respects, the one plant that got most enquiries was cordyline - even those that had been growing in gardens for many years. I'm expecting another e-mail avalanche after this cold snap.
The one good thing is that it hasn't been windy, which puts even more stress on frozen plants, literally sucking moisture from the leaves that isn't replaced as the roots can't absorb anything from the soil. Oh great, I've just heard on the radio that the next few days are going to be windy. Pass me my credit card!
At least I haven't had to drive anywhere recently and so haven't been stranded in my car for 10 hours trying to battle against frozen roads/snow. Every snow cloud has a silvery lining.
The picture shows a shivering Pittosporum tobira.

Lunch munch bunch

Boozing at the Brewery

On Wednesday the great and the mighty of the gardening world assembled at the Brewery, London, for the annual Garden Media Guild Awards Lunch.
Despite the rubbish weather, which did prevent several people from actually getting there - sorry Beanie - everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, especially the 'warming' pink fizz that welcomed us as we arrived.
The food was fabulous as was the table wine - which was more than just table wine - it was very, very quaffable. We all then shot off down the pub to celebrate and commiserate in equal proportions.
If you want to see who won what, then visit The Garden Media Guild website.
For some, just as exciting was the fact that Martyn Cox hijacked the day to announce his alternative OMG! Gardening Awards. Again, there were very few surprises and the gardening police are looking into whether these major awards are now fixed and whether Martyn is going to retire on his 'bungs'!

Going back to blighty

This year, it wasn't too bad. The previous two years were quite bad. The year before that was awful. What is it? Tomato and potato blight - the scourge of veg growers.
OK, we have blight-resistant varieties - the Sarpos, for instance. But I like to grow the varieties I like to eat.
Years ago, when blight was bad, I was happy to spray plants with Dithane and the control was excellent. Then that got taken off the market and so this year I used Bayer Garden Fruit & Vegetable Disease Control with good results. Then horror of all horrors, I read in Which? Gardening that copper-based fungicides are being withdrawn. Cheshunt Compound (which contains copper sulphate) is no longer available to buy from November 30, 2010 and any existing tins must be used up by November 30, 2011 or disposed of safely. The report goes on to say: ”Other products containing copper sulphate, copper oxychloride...are also being withdrawn. Bordeaux mixture, which contains copper sulphate, is currently approved for use until the end of 2013." Bayer Garden Fruit & Vegetable Disease Control contains copper oxychloride. So, I did some checking around - including the PSD website - and also got this information: "Bayer is going to continue to support Fruit & Vegetable Disease Control and so it will go on beyond 2012/2013." So I'm happy.
There were some reports in the summer about genetically-modified resistance to potato blight and then I saw this today on the Horticulture Week website (www.hortweek.com): Researchers from the University of Dundee, the Scottish Crop Research Institute examined the behaviour of Phytophtora infestans and how it interacts with potato plants, and identifying the proteins secreted by the pathogen that play an essential role in infecting the plants. The researchers now know a lot more about how P. infestans gets round the potato plant's natural defences and what it takes for the plant to resist infection. They can now look at a potato plant's genetic make-up and say whether it will be sustainably resistant to late blight. All good news.
The other weapon in my blight arsenal is the Blight Watch website (www.blightwatch.co.uk) where you can put in your postcode and get a warning when blight is forecast in your area. All very clever.

The fall & rise of raised beds

Finally, after eight years, my raised vegetable beds have bitten the dust - literally. For the last year the wood has slowly started rotting away. Now the sides have given up the ghost and started to go awol.
Good time to replace them I thought. So I ordered four new beds - 2 x 2.4m long and 2 x 1.8m; the two old 4.8m long beds were too long - they bowed in the middle and took ages to walk round. Lazy? - me!
Last week I cleared away enough soil to put down one bed, with the intention of filling and moving the soil to get the others down and filled in a logical (kinda) manner. Yesterday the beds were delivered and I stood out in the freezing cold treating them with a wood preservative. Now, today, we've got 5cm of snow, the ground is frozen and everything is on hold.
Thank gawd for the conservatory. After clearing out enough rubbish to give me some room, I've started building the beds indoors. I just need to remember, like someone I knew who built a motorcycle in his attic and then couldn't get it out again without partially dismantling it, that I need to ensure I can get them out of the patio doors.
No doubt, despite my excitement to get them finished asap, we'll have another bad winter and I won't be able to start using the beds until May. Good job I've got some frames to start everything off from seed.