We wrote about gardening in April’s newsletter but we all know – don’t we? – that gardening proper can’t begin in Scotland till May. We must be patient and wait till the risk of frost is truly over for another year.
That doesn’t mean, of course, that we can’t start dreaming and planning.
We have just bought a new (second-hand) greenhouse, so of course we are full of enthusiasm at the minute, imagining all the tasty vegetables and interesting plants we will be nurturing this summer. Feel free to ask us in October how we got on!
Gardening is one of those pastimes that has always been around, giving pleasure to many while baffling others. Fashions come and fashions go. Now it’s all about bio-diversity and leaving at least a patch of your garden to go a bit wild. A great excuse for sitting out and enjoying a glass of something instead of sweating over the lawnmower if you ask us.
We tend to think of gardeners as relaxed, happy people. We don’t generally associate them with militancy and campaigns and much as love a bit of people power, we were quite surprised to find that the Society of Garden Designers, with support from the Royal Horticultural Society and the Landscape Institute, has launched a campaign and needs our support.
What is this campaign?
Say No to Plastic Grass and Plants
To be honest, although we have noticed increasing numbers of gardens now have artificial grass, we had no idea that fully 10% of UK households have replaced their lawns with fake grass. But now that we know it is one in 10, we’d like to know more about the environmental impact this is having. If any.
Oh my, what a can of worms we have opened. Ironic really, since there are now no worms in these particular gardens!
No. They are now covered with a layer of plastic that suffocates the soil beneath them, destroying all sources of food and habitat. So, no micro-organisms, no bugs and no birds, bees or butterflies to delight us when they fly in to visit. In fact, everything around the newly installed artificial lawn dies.
Real lawns are usually home to a vast eco-system of organisms, microbes, invertebrates and plant life, but this sterile version will never sprout a daisy or buttercup to make us smile. It will never accommodate the dandelions that produce valuable food before other flowers begin to bloom.