In the garden... April 2020, sowing seeds...

Pansies in full flower, April 2020

  As we entered week four of the UK lockdown due to Covid-19, I decided to prepare part of my garden for sowing some seeds direct into the ground. There's an awkward triangular patch next to a path that I think is best for some lower growing, sun loving plants. My garden is only in it's second year after previously being a lawn, so the various plants are quite young. I picked a main colour scheme of blue-yellow which I'm hoping I'll manage to stick to for at least a couple more years.

  The main theme overall, other than colour, is that most of the plants can be eaten or used within the home in some way. For example, in my header photograph, the pansies (flower petals) can be eaten in salads, as a garnish or added to baking. We eat a surprising number of flowers, often without realising it- from broccoli to cauliflower, violets, hibiscus and jasmine teas or lavender which can be eaten or used as a fragrance and a medicine. There are many plants and flowers which are poisonous to humans and pets so do research into this if you want to eat more flowers.

  I wanted to write a little about pollution within gardening. As a lifelong gardener, I've been made aware of various dangers in the soil yet in the past decade there have been some new ones. By dangers I mean a mixture of disease and sharp things. It's a good idea to wear gloves to protect yourself from bacteria and parasites as a result of cat poo and cuts or injuries, animal waste, rotting vegetation, moulds and rusty nails or sharp shards of flint, glass etc. So off I went earlier in the week to till a patch of soil, preparing it for some nasturtium seeds (another edible flower, the whole plant can be eaten and it is a spicy, hot, pepper-like experience).

  In the 90s I used to dig up a lot of broken pottery and occasional glass when I was digging over the topsoil. I'm very sad about what happens now. In the past decade, I have begun to unearth many plastic clothes pegs, plastic toys and 'missing parts' of whatever game or tools such as wires, plugs, connecters etc - all in plastic. The worst part is finding many small bits of plastic wrapping from food packs or chocolate bars, which have begun to disintegrate and spread around the topsoil. When unearthed, being lightweight, these fragments blow around.

The patch of soil I've been working on.

This is the plastic I found in just a small patch of soil.

The larger rocks which were in this area, reasonably normal for the soil type, they may go toward a small rockery.

Cutting up plastic bottles (!) to use as markers for the seed and also to stop slugs from eating them.

Finished result- seeds sown, protective collars added and a bit of compost to enrich the heavy clay soil.

  It's a bit frustrating that we use so much plastic anyway and that as part of my organic gardening, I've learnt to use sharp plastic collars to protect young plants. At least they can be re-used later. The upper part of the empty bottle can be turned into a mini greenhouse. There are still frosts at this time of year, though we have some plants which are naturally hardy and do well even in cold conditions.

These seedlings are from bedding plants grown last year, I'm overjoyed to see them return.

  Looking over at my gardening, it seems that we cannot escape plastic parts at all- many of my tools and pots are plastic, it's cheaper, watertight and seems to break less than pottery. Being light-weight it's easier to buy and transport, easier to store- there are things about plastic that can be loved. BUT here's the point- I've never dug plastic pots or garden tools up from a garden.

  One of the best things we can do is try to use as much metal and pottery, glass and paper as we can within our gardens even if we don't garden. Urbanised areas tend to have a lot of nails and building materials dumped in their gardens- thinking of the future, even our own generations or our future homes in another ten years- this is a problem already.  All of this rubbish will go to landfill, meaning that it's not being recycled, so if we make sure to recycle now and to only buy items that are easy to recycle, this problem can be stopped within one generation. Pollution is a bigger problem than the so-called climate change.

- Stop buying and using plastic pegs. Stop leaving things outside that can easily disrupt a garden. We have been living with the threat of possible war, disease and economic collapse for years. One day, maybe in the near future, our families may need to learn how to grow our own food to supplement our diets and the last thing we need is a garden full of waste.


Volk B, 2020