Gardener's thoughts - fertiliser corruption

Day 29 of astronomical summer

I’ve been reading ‘The Well Gardened Mind’ by Sue Stuart-Smith and thinking a lot about gardening and it’s impact on mental health. It’s beautifully written, very factual and I highly recommend to anyone and everyone.

When I consider my relationship with gardening, I think about how each garden in my roster is important to me. I treat each garden as if it’s my own and as i’ve said before, I hold myself to a very high standard. A garden should be a sanitary for my clients, where they can relax and enjoy whether they eat in the garden or their children play on the lawns and smell the roses.

With this responsibility comes the gardens highs and lows. Each garden will have moments where they flourish. For example, one of my best gardens which I visit weekly was thriving. The Impatiens walleriana (aka busy lizzies) I planted in the shaded moist containers finally took off and formed plump semi circles of colour. Rosa 'Ballerina’ put out beautiful tiny flushes of roses despite the black spot which I struggle to get a handle on. The lawn was lush and green and the lavenders were laden with flowers surrounded by pollinators. It was quite a vision and I smiled to myself mowing the lawn and checking the water levels in the containers by poking my finger in the soil.

Yet, I visited another garden and it was suffering. The garden isn’t irrigated and currently no one is there watering. The roses weren’t flowering from the lack of water and the leaves had dropped a little. The dahlias had been ravaged by snails leaving snapped stems in their wake and the beds were speckled with weeds. Whilst I worked, I became more and more overwhelmed with the garden’s sad status and I found I didn’t enjoy my time working. I felt disappointed in myself. Yet, that evening I reflected that I could have focused on the other pleasures in the garden. There was a deep purple clematis in flower, sumptuous Lilium in all different colours and sweet peas blooming infinitely (both the annual and the evergreen type). It’s something that I intend to be more thoughtful about in the future.

This week I stumbled upon an interesting seedpod on the floor, it looked like a green waxy sea creature but upon turning it over, it appears to have hazel like nuts inside. The green was so reminiscent of new leaves in Spring and upon discovery, the fruit is from the Corylus colurna tree (aka Turkish filbert). Sometimes known as ‘Turkish Nuts’, the nuts are coated in a involucre/membrane which deters animals from eating them. Nature is so full of surprises and I love the constant learning it encourages me to do.

Street trees are fascinating, in different areas Councils appear to favour different trees. There are many different qualities that are required from a tree planted in the street and I always consider what these may be. I imagine it must not be too bushy or drop too many fruit. It must be tolerable of little water, heavy pollution depending on its location and it must be diverse and provide nectar for local insects. I might treat myself to this book to find out more information about the trees we already have lining our London streets.

Corylus colurna

Fertiliser corruption

I had an interesting and unsettling conversation this week about fertilisers that has really set my mind in motion, particularly concerning the brand, Miracle-Gro.

Miracle-Gro dominate the fertiliser market - it’s heart breaking when you hear the story, so here goes….

They produced a birdseed, which was coated the seed in an insecticide called chlorpyrifos-methyl, in order to give the seed a longer shelf life. This insecticide is toxic to birds and will cause them difficulty breathing and eventual death. Ironically, the bird seed is named ‘Morning Song’. The company were very aware of the dangers of using the insecticide. After an investigation into the company from the EPA concerning a separate issue with intentionally false pesticide documents, Miracle-Gro disclosed that they had manufactured and sold poisoned birdseed.

They sold a whopping 73 millions units to the public and only 2 million could eventually be recalled. This undoubtedly would have had a devastating effect on millions of birds.

I worked in a garden centre in my younger days. I would watch sweet older couples buying birdseed, carefully reading ingredients and considering which would be most suitable for their local birds. People who feed birds build a relationship with their neighbourhood birds - I know I do.

There is a song thrush that has taken to singing outside of my bedroom window recently, it stops me in my tracks and I listen to its powerful song fill my room. I can’t imagine how upset I would feel to have personally killed that song thrush who had innocently come to feed?

Miracle-Gro were fined around $12 million dollars and said they would pay out “$500,000 to help support wildlife study and preservation” (cited from this eloquent Guardian article). Considering the amount of units they sold, they have been given a tiny slap on the wrist and the powers at be have hardly been held accountable or criminally liable.

I feel fury at this blatant disregard for nature.

Birds are so special - they are able to sing, make a variety of different nests with sticks and moss, laying beautiful speckled eggs inside. They are able to swim under water and nest on cliffs, they can trick other birds into raising their chicks, they can hunt in the dark, they have been known to pay respect to their dead and some even decorate their nest using colour schemes.

What wonders they are and what a shame that they are disregarded by corporate greed in such a painful way. Birds don’t ask us for anything, they live their life along side us - yet companies like Miracle-Gro can shamelessly murder these sweet feathered friends, and for what - profit? What will this money mean when there is no longer a planet to spend their ill gotten gains on?

There is so much more I’d like to discuss and I intend to write another newsletter which is much more informative.

Allotment highlights

My sweetcorn plants are very happy, my kale plants are bountiful, the blackberries canes are giving out generous black jewels and the tomato plants are very hopeful.

My partner and I stood and acknowledged our hard work on Friday evening and felt a real sense of pride. He has really stepped up this week, visiting the allotment when I haven’t had the time and I take my hat off to him with his dedication.

I arrived to collect him and he was carefully planting cabbages using my Niwaki hori hori - what a sweet scene.

I kept my Buddleja which I believe self seeded long before my arrival on the plot. It’s good for pollinators and although I pruned it correctly in early Spring, it’s as huge as ever and unfortunately I may have to take it out next year as it’s creating too much shade.

I also have a few pots of Sedum 'Herbstfreude' which I divide each year and gift to clients if their garden needs it. Sedum flower late in the season and provide pollen for pollinators and provide colour when the garden begins to quiet down.

Below, you can see my compost heaps, the greedy Buddleja and a happy cluster of containers.

On a final note, my Onethera speciosa ‘Siskiyou' is full of flowers and has never looked so good. I bought this cultivar many years ago from an impromptu garden centre visit and it’s been slow to grow, yet this year it’s taken off.