News

This International Compost Awareness Week (6-12 May), why not celebrate with a completely compostable cuppa?

Add your voice to the future of food and farming...

The world’s most widely used insecticides will be banned from all fields within six months, to protect both wild and honeybees that are vital to crop pollination.

More than 60 volunteers will be helping communities throughout Leicestershire to grow their own organic food this year and more are needed to join them!

The fruitID.com project has announced that following the success of their schemes in 2016 and 2017, they are offering DNA analysis of Apple, Pear and Cherry fruit trees for 2018 at £26 plus VAT per sample.

Garden Organic last month gave European visitors an insight into its successful social and therapy gardening projects over a week-long visit.

Many a gardener were enjoying a rare few hours in the garden during the first week of April. The sun came out and warmth could be felt on my face, what a feeling it is too. It made me feel that the winter had been going on a long time. This, however is an illusion. We all seem to be weathermen (or women) these days. I put it down to the constant information we receive from the TV, social media or the paper.

Supporting birds in the garden, especially in winter months, is to be encouraged. But supplementary feeding can create risks, such as spreading disease between species.

A study in Massachusetts has found that reducing the frequency of mowing the lawn helped bee species.
Researchers tested whether mowing every 1, 2 or 3 weeks had an effect on bee abundance and diversity.

We have now sourced a suitable wrapper from the magazine made from 100% potato starch which claims to break down in a domestic compost heap. We are keen to find out if this really is the case, and if there is any additional advice we can offer to help members compost it quicker. We are composting several of the wrappers here and would love to hear how you get on composting yours. Please let us know by email to [email protected]. We will keep you updated on how we get on.