THE MODERN MINT BLOG
Lovely to see the RHS have a small article in the latest Garden Magazine telling people about reducing their gardening carbon footprint.
We were banging on about this ages ago…. we even did a whole project about it for the Chelsea Fringe 2017…. Capture Carbon In Your Garden.
The RHS notes:
Plant anything green to capture carbon
Mulch soils and avoid digging to make sure carbon stays in the soil
Don’t use labour and carbon intensive nitrogen-based fertilisers – instead use natural alternatives like seaweed, comfrey (yes, it is stinky!) or mulching with well-rotted horse manure or homemade garden compost…. which is always amazing stuff!
Use peat free compost – which avoids digging up peat lands, which are vast stores of carbon.
Thank you RHS for writing about this. Thank you for reading more….
Clipsham Yew Tree Avenue
With Chris Poole of the European Boxwood and Topiary Society we visited Clipsham Yew Tree Avenue in Rutland. Do you know it? Amazing place! Chris and I were teaching a topiary workshop in order to give local people the skills and technique, and tenacity! to help with the pruning of the avenue and elevate it to something even more special than it already is. Read more about the workshops here. We hope to run a further workshop in September 2026, as well as teach an advanced course too. Check the teaching page through the year as it will be updated …
Aesthetic Pruners Association – New Talk In December
An organisation I love and have been learning lots from in the last two years is the Aesthetic Pruners Association based in the USA. Sharing knowledge with them about clipping and the overlap – and differences! – in style is something worth exploring, so I recommend a visit to their website and to join onto their events and talks, which are all on Zoom meaning you can access them from anywhere in the world. No excuse not to learn! The next event will be led by Jocelyn Cohen and be about ancient trees in the British Landscape. This is such …
The Amelia Project – Episode 88: Didius Julianus
Friends of mine write a sitcom podcast called The Amelia Project (I wrote about this years ago, when they started it….!) December 2024 I had some fun playing the tiny part of Fornio in episode 88 – Didius Julianus. I have not listened to the episode yet, as I am clearly not an actor… and the thought of listening to my dulcet tones for the few minutes I’m in it just… makes me feel ill. But the recording and being in the studio was great fun, the real actors were hilarious and the script is brilliant – not just funny, …