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Our monthly harvest of news!

Will pollinator research acknowledge agrochemical poisoning?

Investigation of honeybee die-off, about which I wrote on page six of last month’s edition, has been given a new impetus in that the Government’s bee-health research programme has since received a fivefold boost, writes John Greenway.

Its £2-million cash allocation has been supplemented by funding from a number of organisations to create a £10-million resource to pay for investigation of threats to pollinators of all kinds, including butterflies, moths, wasps and beetles.
This spectacular cash increase ought by rights to ensure a wide-ranging and deeply probing inquiry into the causes of the current disastrous scale of pollinator loss. A possibility that it could fall short of this may, however, be signalled by official announcements pointing to pests, diseases and weather as causes of pollinator decline; while making little mention of agrochemicals, except as threats if ‘misused’.

This is despite evidence pointing to markedly heavier death tolls among honeybees in environments saturated by the wide variety of agrochemicals deployed in what is considered normal use – such as that from which a researcher reported finding a cocktail of 25 different pesticides, fungicides and herbicides in a single bee.

 

The hunt for red-hot poker

RHS botanists are on the hunt for a plant variety that has an intriguing Cornish history. The RHS Herbarium team is trying to find an original Kniphofia ‘Atlanta’, commonly known as a red-hot poker plant.

The cultivar ‘Atlanta’ is linked to the Tintagel area and is particularly distinctive because of its early-flowering time, and its stamens, which protrude beyond the mouth of the flower. The team is appealing for people to send photographs of their May-flowering Kniphofia to rhsherbarium@rhs.org.uk to help with their research.

Richard Briers digs up Gordon Brown’s runway

Bees
Richard Briers, Alys Fowler and Bob Sherman at the Greenpeace plot of land on the proposed third runway at Heathrow Airport.

Thirty years after The Good Life ended, actor Richard Briers has dusted off his spade and started digging up the land earmarked by Gordon Brown for the construction of a new runway at Heathrow airport. Richard is digging an allotment on land in the Sipson village area bought earlier this year by Greenpeace from under the noses of ministers and BAA.

He’s planting carrots on the plot and will send the vegetables to every member of the cabinet in the hope that they’ll enjoy them so much they’ll ditch their plans for a third runway. Under the watchful eye of Garden Organic’s Bob Sherman, and Alys Fowler from Gardeners’ World, Richard and the Sipson villagers will also be planting seedlings from Garden Organic’s Heritage Seed Library.
They will also be planting the Bright Future apple tree, a new variety perfect for organic gardeners, selected by Garden Organic to symbolise its hopes for a more sustainable world.

The whole of the Sipson area would be destroyed if a third runway got the goahead, and the scheme would make Heathrow the single biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the whole of the UK. The allotment, under guidance from Garden Organic, will be cared for using organic practices.

 

Invite your neighbours to a Big Lunch

The Big Lunch is inviting people across the UK to simultaneously sit down to eat lunch with their neighbours in the middle of your street as a simple act of community on Sunday 19 July. A new initiative run by the Eden Project,
The Big Lunch encourages communities to come together through growing food and flowers; creating street music, art and theatre; dressing the street and, of course, cooking and eating together. The Big Lunch website and ideas booklet will take you through the process step by step, giving you the tools, templates and resources to make it as simple as possible or find others planning a Big Lunch in your area. To find out more: visit www.thebiglunch.com or call 020 7636 8152.

 

Climate change will lead to loss of phosphorus in soil

Crop growth, drinking water and recreational water sports could all be adversely affected if predicted changes in rainfall patterns over the coming years prove true, according to research published in Biology and Fertility of Soils. Scientists from North Wyke Research have found for the first time that the rate at which a dried soil is rewetted impacts on the amount of phosphorus lost from the soil into surface water and subsequently into the surrounding environment. Dr Martin Blackwell, who is one of the project leaders, said: “Our preliminary results show that despite best efforts, the changing climate may limit our ability to mitigate phosphorus losses at certain times of the year, especially summer. “This is really worrying because high phosphorus concentrations in surface waters can lead to harmful algal blooms which can be toxic, cause lack of oxygen during their decay and disrupt food webs. This can also affect the quality of water for drinking and result in the closure of

Lots more Organic Gardening news in Kitchen Garden magazine

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Gardening Scotland 2009
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Pensthorpe Nature Reserve, north Norfolk, 16 May, 10am to 5pm

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