Page 46 - ALG Issue 2 2018 html

General
A ‘ridiculous’ skin cancer campaign for gardeners
Celebrity gardeners are getting behind
a national campaign, using humour to
help fight melanoma. David Domoney, Adam Frost and David Stevens will all appear dressed up looking ‘ridiculous’ in a campaign urging us all to think twice about our sun protection habits.
Watch Your Back! launched in 2016 by the Melanoma Fund, specifically targets men over 50 who are the least likely to cover up, and are most likely to die from the effects of excessive sun exposure. The message is ‘don’t be ridiculous, remember sun protection when out in the garden this summer’.
Men and melanoma
Skin cancer is now the most common cancer in the UK and melanoma is the most dangerous type. It is the fastest growing cancer in men and the second fastest
in women, with men 70% more likely to develop the disease, typically on their backs and in areas that are hard to spot, making the warning signs easier to miss, leading to a later diagnosis, leading to higher death rates.
Why raise awareness?
Melanoma rates in the UK have more than quadrupled over the last 30 years; however, many of us still forget to protect, check skin for signs of change or know what to look out for. This may explain why death rates from melanoma are higher in the UK than
in Australia or New Zealand, both of which have the highest incidence in the world.
Harry Townsend, founder of the Melanoma Fund says: “Sun protection campaigns can sound like broken records. We all know
the facts, but many of us still lack a regular skin care habit and men in particular dislike applying sunscreen, so we have decided to give it to them straight; don’t be ridiculous!”
Skin health clinic bus tour
The Melanoma Fund is organising a bus tour of major garden centres in the South East during May and June. Surgeons from the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead and dermatologists from RTWSkin in Tunbridge Wells will offer FREE pre-booked appointments for skin checking and skin health analysis.
The ridiculous sunflower
growing competition
Major garden centres will be urging customers to grow the tallest or biggest sunflower in the UK. They will be retailing packs of the ‘ridiculous’ seeds for a £1 donation to the charity. Prizes include Landmann BBQs and a year’s supply of Altruist sunscreen.
Campaign ambassadors Alan Titchmarsh, Charlie Dimmock, Andy Sturgeon, Joe Swift, Adam Frost, David Domoney, Anne Swithinbank and Toby Buckland have all agreed to provide their personal tips on growing giant blooms.
Alan Titchmarsh says: “This approach may appear light-hearted, but the message is serious. Sunburn can not only triple the risk of melanoma, it looks terrible, so look after your skin whatever your age”.
Watch Your Back! is partnered with the Garden Centre Association, the Professional Gardeners Guild and The National Allotment Society. For further details visit www. watchyourback.co.uk
Composting for pumpkins whilst creating a No-Dig Bed
After being devoured by hungry Brandling worms over several months, compost heaps full of nutrient rich material have
the ability to produce excellent pumpkins. Maybe not capable of attaining gigantic proportions, but growing on compost can nevertheless achieve some jaw-dropping efforts that are more than adequate for carving or simply displaying for Halloween.
The Atlantic Giant variety when grown on rotting matter can spiral away as if almost out of control and become impossibly heavy or cumbersome for one person to lift when harvesting time comes around. Kids are fascinated by their growth throughout the summer as they expand daily before their eyes and eagerly wait for them to be picked in October. Neighbours are also usually somewhat curious, if not astounded, when displayed outside the grower’s front door
in comparison to their own supermarket versions which generally weigh just a few kilos at most.
Most compost heaps will already be suitable as a pumpkin bed; the one in
our picture had no special preparation whatsoever. Some may require a little tweaking, whilst others are purpose built
as in our second picture. This was recently created without using any screws, nails or rope to secure it, but instead simply by driving 2x2 inch timber corner posts into the ground and adding one more at each end and
along the sides. Cuttings from an overgrown Ash tree and old Elder branches were then woven between the posts with old cardboard boxes lining the inside to retain the compost. Straw was initially used more for aesthetic
reasons at the start to fill the gap between the outside of the cardboard liner and the wooden structure and as an insulator during decomposing, but this is expected to merge with the contents over the coming months.
Filling the 6x3 ft bin commenced in late February when not much waste was coming from the plot and an all-out effort has been needed to fill the container with nutrient
rich material. The only items available lately were a mixture of old grass cuttings, straw and leaves. Importing spent hops, coffee grounds, small brown cardboard pieces
and all peelings from the kitchen helped make up the bulk. In addition to this a crop of green manures, mustard and buckwheat have been sown for their foliage. These quick growing plants will, after cutting, be chopped as a final addition to the mix. When cooled after the first stage of decomposing, a layer of finished compost will be added as a topping just before settling the pumpkin seedlings into their home for the summer.
The rustic compost heap was purposely built over a previously grassed and somewhat weedy area which had not been cultivated for several years. Likewise, the surrounding area was in a similar condition and was covered in cardboard sheets with
a dressing of woodchips, both serving as mulch. After the pumpkin crop is harvested from the heap in the autumn, the structure will be dismantled, the cardboard around
the area will have rotted away, and any remaining woodchips will be removed for further composting. This should expose bare soil and a clean weed and grass free patch. The residual rotted waste from the heap will
be excellent compost by then and ready
for spreading over our new found ground where it will become the start of another no-dig bed, just in time for planting an over- wintering crop directly into it, such as onion sets or broad beans.
Ron Heath, Bristol
46