THE MODERN MINT BLOG

Jan26

Debunking Myths Of Tree Planting

I love working with Trees For Life , a charity in Scotland who plants trees.

So far Modern Mint has planted 195 trees – including pines, rowans and oaks – to do as much as we can to make the business as green as possible. You can help too – just visit the Modern Mint Grove at Trees For Life and for £6 per tree you can get some planted.

I’m writing this today because of a report I saw on the BBC this morning about Tottenham being top of the sustainability table. Spurs top of the table huh? Something for their fans to enjoy….!

Points were awarded to each Premiership club for things like:

  • Clean energy
  • Transport links
  • Water efficiency
  • Plant-based food options
  • Removal of single use plastics
  • Waste management

It is a great way of making a statement about what you are doing to make your club carbon zero. I know that, due to the pandemic, I have significantly reduced the travel I do to give talks around the country. Talks by Zoom means my mileage is now 20% of what it was in 2019.

Long may that continue…

At home we have used the green energy supplier Bulb for the last few years. You can get a quote from them here – Green Energy For You!

Tree Planting Golden Rules

The BBC also did this report debunking myths over tree planting. Their golden rules include:

  • Protect existing forests (old forests soak up carbon best… well, if you want to nit-pick the ocean and the soil hold the most carbon, so make sure you treat the ground you grow your plants in well. But trees are beautiful and provide food and habitat for so much wildlife that not to plant them seems ridiculous. Surely life is better with a grove of trees in the landscape? Or a leafy boulevard?)
  • Select the right tree species (a eucalyptus that soaks up all the groundwater is no good for a site that needs to grow food. It will take more than it gives! But a tree that provides leaf fodder for animals, as well as timber as material for housing, or soft shade for growing a wider range of plants, or a tree that has roots that can break up the ground and improve drainage… native species are probably most suitable, but the right tree in the right place is what we are after…)
  • Learn by doing (get your hands dirty before you go big, to make sure the trees will be right for the location.)

Plant A Tree Today

How green are you? Your business?

These questions are worth trying to answer. They are simple to start doing as well – you can visit Bulb right now and get a quote for green energy to use at home, or for a few quid you can plant a tree today.

Visit the Modern Mint Grove now to make a difference.

 

Apr16

EBTS Boxwood Growers Forum

Through the European Boxwood and Topiary Society I worked with Chris Poole and Sue Mesher, members of the EBTS board, and we set up a Boxwood Growers Forum. This was to discuss how to make sure this wonderful topiary plant stays in the public conscioussness – we know many growers, suppliers and distributors have stopped selling it as the cost of replacing boxwood that has blight, or is nibbled by the boxwood caterpillar, makes it unviable to offer to clients and gardeners. But Boxwood is a phoenix plant, and there are ways to deal with the problems associated with Buxus. …

READ MORE

Apr15

Modern Topiarist @ Garden Masterclass Poland

My video on Modern Topiary for Garden Masterclass has been translated into Polish, for the keen gardeners (and happy pruners!) of Garedn Masterclass in Poland. Tickets for the first showing and q and a were available here. But it will become available on the Garden Masterclass Poland website at some point in the near future – so if you are a keen clipper and want to know more, but speak Polish and not English, then I suggest you visit the website and get watching. (Of course, if you don’t speak English, you may not be able to read this…. hmmm… …

READ MORE

Apr15

Topiary Hotline

The European Boxwood & Topiary Society are to run a Topiary Hotline for keen gardeners and people who love to clip. Date is tomorrow, April 16th 2024, and you can get a ticket for the Zoom meeting here – Topiary Hotline. Run by Chris Poole and myself, we set this up as an antidote to the huge amount of questions we have to answer about topiary throughout the summer. The plus is that their is an excitement around topiary and pruning. The problem is we need to help people in a better way… … so we will be giving people …

READ MORE