THE MODERN MINT BLOG
Planting Trees In The UK
This June, we have been talking about planting trees in the UK.
Update March 2020: We now have a Grove Of Trees You Can Add To – Visit Here To Plant a Tree
Why Plant Trees In The UK?
Our recent Chelsea Fringe project was about using your garden to capture carbon.
One way of doing that was to plant trees. Trees take carbon from the air and turn in into…. themselves. Trees and woodlands are not actually the largest stores of carbon on the planet – that accolade goes to our oceans, followed up by our soils – but planting trees are a great way to capture some CO2 and keep it locked up, so that it does not contribute to warming our climate to a ridiculous (that means inhospitable) level.
We decided that in June, for every sale we had online we would plant trees here in the UK. It helps our landscape become a place full of woodlands, encouraging birds and bees and other insects to find home, improve their food chain and generally make the UK a more beautiful place to live.
Who wants to live in a denuded, harsh landscape?
Not us.
How To Plant A Tree In The UK
We don’t currently have the space here at Modern Mint to plant a tree for every sale from our online shop, but there are places who can make it happen for you – and they are fantastic organisations to support.
The first, and the one we will be using for this tree planting project, is Village Farm.
We love Village Farm and what they are doing. We have written about them before and they were an inspiration for our capture carbon project. Do check them out.
The other place we suggest you look at is the Trees For Life project, who are restoring the Caledonian Forest and rewilding the landscape in the Scottish Highlands. It is quite something.
So far we will be planting 15 trees here in the UK, from sales online in June.
If you want to make that number bigger, either go visit our shop and make an order – it can be the cheapest thing, it really does not matter. We will still plant a tree. Or visit either Village Farm or the Trees for Life project and ‘start a grove’ of your own.
Planting trees in the UK is a great thing to do. Go make it happen – for Queen, for country… and for your future, most importantly!
Why I Wrote The Book Modern Topiary
I have written this book, Modern Topiary, because I wanted a collation of useful information that would give people access to everything they need to know in order to start making topiary. Topiary is an amazing (and niche) line of work to follow – amazing because it offers up opportunities to travel all over the world, making gardens, meeting people… but also, the work is intensely physical, hands-on, yet requires creative thinking in order to solve the puzzle of how to make the shapes you want. This mixture of the craft and the art is what I love the most …
Buxus the Norfolk Terrier In Modern Topiary Book
This is Buxus, our Norfolk Terrier, who I acknowledge in the acknowledgments of the book of Modern Topiary. The book of Modern Topiary can be read, for free, here. There you go. Buxus the dog on ‘doorstep duty’ at a friend’s house in Edinburgh. For those asking what he looked like!
What People Think Of Modern Topiary, The Book
Yesterday I put out the book – Modern Topiary – that I have spent the last six years writing. Download for free a pdf of Modern Topiary here. And what seems amazing to me, is that not only have people actually been reading it, but then responding to it. So below are a number of comments I have been sent from those who read it last night, and this morning…. “Brilliant read, exactly the right amount of info to take in and digest.” Rachel, a gardener “I love your book, the advice is so straightforward and your writing is so …