Page 14 - ALG Issue 2 2020
P. 14

snippets and book reviews
Wild About Weeds
Garden Design with Rebel Plants By Jack Wallington
Laurence King, ISBN: 9781786275301
When we think of weeds
we generally think of the uncontrollable, unmanageable pests that choke our plants and produce. However, there is a side not often explored: using weeds to enhance garden design. Wild about Weeds provides useful comprehensive profiles for a large selection of different weeds for different situations, from shaded borders to pots and window boxes, all with their own tips on how to prevent them from growing out of hand.
International Compost Awareness Week: 3rd-9th May 2020
The goal of the campaign is to raise the awareness of the public regarding the benefits of using compost to improve or maintain high quality soil, to grow healthy plants, reduce the use of fertiliser and pesticides, improve water quality and protect the environment. Check out www.carryoncomposting. com for details and news of a new “Introduction to Composting” Course at Stokes Wood Allotment Composting Demonstration site, Leicester.
     Grow Fruit
& Vegetables in Pots
Planting Advice & Recipes from Great Dixter
By Aaron Bertelson
Phaidon, ISBN: 9780714878614
“Surely,” said my other half, “everything that could possibly be said about growing vegetables in pots has been said already!” Well, some things may have been said before, but this attractive cookbook, come practical gardening guide, was a welcome addition to my bookshelf. It contains comprehensive advice for planting and growing in pots, which can be challenging, and some tempting recipes. The potato and parsnip farls were delicious with our Sunday brunch and I cannot wait for my strawberries to fruit so that I can try the chilled Rhubarb and Strawberry Soup.
Entangled Life
How fungi make our worlds, change our minds and shape our futures
By Merlin Sheldrake
The Bodley Head, ISBN: 9781847925190
Many plotholders now use
mycorrhizal fungi to help their
crops establish without realising that they
are connecting plants to an underground network, the ‘Wood Wide Web’, the discovery of which is transforming the way we understand ecosystems. This accessibly written book takes us on a mind-altering journey into a spectacular and neglected world and shows that fungi provide a key to understanding both the planet on which we live, and life itself. I rather loved the story about the slime mould finding the shortest route to the IKEA exit.
   AGM Postponement
Our 90th Anniversary AGM will be rescheduled later this year.
  Allotments Opening for
the National Garden Scheme
There are some wonderful allotment gems opening for
the National Garden Scheme (NGS) that celebrate grow your own. There are several NAS members opening to support the charity, however opening may be cancelled because of the Coronavirus emergency. Check on the website before you travel. https://ngs.org.uk/grow-your- own-gardens/
The NGS opens gardens to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support, Marie Curie, Hospice UK and The Queen’s Nursing Institute. Thanks to the generosity of garden owners, volunteers and visitors they have donated a total of £58 million to nursing and health charities and made an annual donation of £3 million in 2019.
 The My Harvest team have a new paper out!
Feeding a city – Leicester as a case study of the importance of allotments for horticultural production in the UK. Authors: Jill L.Edmondson, Dylan Z.Childs, Miriam C.Dobson, Kevin J.Gaston, Philip H.Warren, Jonathan R.Leake
HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE
• Urbanagricultureprovidesimportantecosystemservicestopeoplelivingincities.
• Allotmentgardeningin1.5%landwithinacityprovidesfreshproducefor3%ofpopulation. • Cropyieldsachievedbyown-growersweresimilartocommercialcropyields.
• Availabilityoflandforown-growinghassignificantlydeclinedsincethe1950s.
• Urbanfoodsecuritycouldbeincreasedbyprovidingmoreallotmentland.
Read it for yourself at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135930
14 Allotment and Leisure Gardener





























































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