Sustainable Development Advisor
I’ve had various people asking me what’s happening to Yalding and at the moment I’m not sure but it is my understanding that Yalding is currently threatened with closure again. The best place to get up-to-date information is http://yaldingorganicgardens.info/.
And also see comment below from John who runs the website.
I’m really pleased forest gardening is getting so much coverage at the moment. Here’s an article by Dominic Murphy in The Guardian.
It’s a great week for alternative gardening ideas on TV. Following on from her forest gardening slots on Gardeners World Alys Fowler has started a new TV series about edible gardening. It’s a real treat – both aspirational and practical – and really pleasing to watch. The first programme features permaculture pioneers Maddy Harland and family. They’ve been running Permanent Publications and the Permaculture magazine for years. The series will be running for several weeks and you can catch up with it on iplayer.
I was very excited to receive yesterday a copy of Martin Crawford’s long awaited guide to forest gardening – Creating A Forest Garden. Martin is the UK’s leading exponent of forest gardening – a style of gardening which concentrates on perennial food crops grown in layers. The book launch couldn’t have been timed better as Alys Fowler is currently planting a forest garden for the BBC Gardeners World TV programme. My friend – and co-author of The Organic Garden Chloe Ward – is also growing one at the Centre for Alternative Technology. It will be one of the few forest gardens you can get easy access to on a public visitor site. Forest gardens were developed by Robert Hart well over twenty years ago and it has been a long wait for them to get this sort of mainstream public recognition. It’s very exciting to see it finally come.
I haven’t had a chance to read it yet but it looks fantastic and I’m sure given Martin’s diligence and dedication to forest gardening it will be extremely informative and well researched.
Next week sees the publication of the first solar PV book to include full details of feed-in tariff incentives – the new government scheme that encourages the installation of solar PV modules by providing householders, communities and businesses with a guaranteed fixed price for every unit of electricity they produce using small scale renewable technology.
The scheme is launched today by the government and the book – Choosing Solar Electricity: A guide to photovoltaic systems – is available now, from www.cat.org.uk, and from everyone else from April 8th. It is written by solar engineer and CAT lecturer Brian Goss and helps those who are fairly clueless about solar get to grips with the technology so they can talk to an installer without being bamboozled or talked into something that isn’t right for them.
The book costs £14.00 and is fully illustrated to help you understand how a solar PV system works. Click here to search inside.
Allan Shepherd 