Page 25 - Thrapston Life January 2024

Cercis silaquastrum Apple ‘Lord Derby’ on M106 Plum ‘Blue Tit’
Tree
Features
Acer griseum
Flaking bark and autumn colour
Acer palmatum ‘Inaba-shidare’
Purple foliage
Amelanchier lamarckii
White flowers, black berries, autumn colour
Caragana arborescens ‘Pendula’
Yellow flowers
Cercis siliquatrum
Pink flowers
Cotoneaster ‘Hybridus pendulus’
Red berries semi evergreen
Crataegus laevigata ‘Paul’s Scarlet’
Pink flowers, red berries
Magnolia stellata
White or pink flowers
Malus ‘John Downie’
White flowers yellow / red crab apples
Prunus ‘Kiku-shidare-zakura’
Pink flowers
Pyrus salicifolia ‘Pendula’
Grey foliage
Sorbus ‘Joesph Rock’
Yellow berries
Sorbus vilmorinii
Red berries, autumn colour
Sorbus hupehensis
White or pink berries
Amelanchier lamarckii close up
costs. Once the waste is composted it can be added to the soil by mulching (spreading on the soil surface) or digging into the soil. This will improve the soil fertility, recycles plant nutrients, holds water in sandy soils and opens up clay soils, as well as sequestering carbon into the soil (which helps to reduce the amount going into the atmosphere). If compost had been invented, it would be marketed as a magic substance and cost a fortune – you can make it for free!
Just make or buy a wooden or plastic bin and fill with your garden waste and kitchen peelings. Do not add cooked food or waste that is not plant material as this can attract vermin. Any large pieces should be cut up or shredded to speed up the composting. Woody material will compost but just takes longer. You can never make too much compost!
Growing your own fruit and vegetables helps to reduce your carbon footprint and carbon miles, and gives you fresh healthy food. Many vegetables are easy to grow and do not require too much space – in fact many will grow in containers. It is possible to harvest vegetables all the year round in the UK, so with enough space you can be self-sufficient in fruit and vegetables. If you only have a small area just grow the crops that you like or that are expensive in the shops. Producing your own compost will feed your fruit and vegetables, which will feed you!
If you would like further ideas of what can be done in the garden to help reduce climate change, please see Kelvin Mason’s book ‘Climate Adaptive Gardening’ published by The Crowood Press.
25