Environmental Prepping - What we can all do locally

[Arwen Thebard]

Subtitled "No-cost Or Low Cost Ways to Maintain Your Local Environment"

I read this short blog post the other day. Nicely written by someone who understands the topic. IMO

It's pretty standard information for many members on this forum, but a useful reminder for all of us none the less.

http://www.preparednessfactandfiction.c ... -prepping/

[jansman]

Good read that. Thanks.

[grenfell]

Interesting read. With reference to the section about fencing there was an interesting piece on radio 4 on Friday where it spoke of replacing fences with hedges for environmental reasons and to essentially act as filter and sink for airborne contaminates and co2 . Evergreens seem to work best in this role , holly , laurel , yew but not lilandi as it's too tightly packed for air to move through it efffectively. Beech also works very well too.

[Arzosah]

Thanks all

[Arzosah]

Environmentally, I absolutely agree, hedging is a real boon in helping air quality, thats a really good point. I'd definitely investigate rate of growth of the plants though. Laurel is as bad as leylandii at growing fast - I have laurel hedging at the bottom of my little suburban garden Last year, after I'd been ill for a while, we took two Luton vans worth of hedging to the recycling centre and this year, there was another twelve feet of growth to cut down. A couple of the trunks are too thick to saw through with a hand saw, and a neighbour has offered to bring his petrol powered chainsaw over. I've now got two layers of laurel trunks about 8 feet high, and one that I've lopped at waist height. It has to go to the recycling centre - the greenery has quite a high proportion of cyanide, you can't burn it!

The greenery is still growing at a rate of knots, but the soil is still fertile - sweet peas have colonised since I cut the laurel last year, they've taken over the first four feet. Between that, the rhodendron shaped like a tree, and my quince, the garden is actually noisy with the sound of bees

[grenfell]

Arzosah , that touches on something that I did wonder when I listened to the article on the radio. I fully get the idea of a hedge to soak up pollutants but did wonder how much fossil fuel is burned trimming them and carting it all away. At the risk of being hypocritical here I've been paid on a number of occasions to do just that so I do know there is a cost. And as you say the cyanide in laurel precludes it from burning or composting. Furthermore although perhaps less environmental an issue but it doesn't really look that nice in my eyes , it's just green. At least if one plants , say , hawthorn there are flowers to attract insects and berries to attract birds.

[Arzosah]

Absolutely. I think it's about having hedging plants, as well as plants in the garden, having several uses, yes, exactly like hawthorn. Leaves, flowers, berries, security (those thorns!), biomass that can be composted or burned (or used for plant supports, or to make hurdles) and supports 300 species of insects, according to the Woodland Trust: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/visiti ... /hawthorn/

[jansman]

Permaculture.

[Arwen Thebard]

Permaculture.

Ah permaculture. Remembering back to one of my very first posts.....

I'm still embarrassed

[Arzosah]

Permaculture.

Ah permaculture. Remembering back to one of my very first posts.....

I'm still embarrassed

I've been away, I'm just starting to catch up, and you *know* I had to go search your posts

Permaculture indeed planet-saving.