Not really, I would say. As a species we are a wrecking ball. We can fiddle around the edges of the damage, but there is little doubt that all other species of plant, animal and everything else would be infinitely better off without us. I don't think there can be any moral high ground in trying to limit the vast losses. It's a hard position, but fairly inescapable, I would argue. We just have to adjust to the reality of it.
But as gardeners, do we also not put so much more back in terms of increasing the biodiversity of our respective patches, reducing erosion and increasing bacteria with soil improvement and planting - even a lawn is better than nothing. Then what about the impact of extracting any natural materials that we use to build our houses? Or just live in general? Everything we do or buy has an impact, all we can do is try and reduce our footprint as much as possible and put back something in return.
Sometimes a bit too keen to pat ourselves on the back. Not doing anything could actually be more beneficial for nature and wildlife.
Converting a garden is a mammoth task. The RHS estimates that you would need 250kg of sand or grit for every square metre of clay soil.
"The best thing to do in this situation is to make a raised bed and then add the sand so the water has somewhere to go," says Hunt.
And considering there is a global scarcity in building sand, and it's leading to environmental calamity, it's probably best avoided. Transportation is another massive issue.
We're also very quick to let ourselves off the hook by saying 'my impact is tiny compared to the whole of China so I'm not going to change what I do until 'they' do'.
The RHS is assuming that 'conversion' can only be done by importing lots of aggregate. Actually it can be done without it - it just takes much longer. If you want to make your garden over a weekend, or at most one growing season, it does take a disproportionate amount of oil based energy and limited resource. If you're willing to commit a couple of decades to the task, it takes a lot less non-renewable resource to do it. Let the worms take the strain
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Perhaps I should have said ‘do we not put a bit back’, I am certainly not attempting to occupy any moral high ground, apologies if you thought that, I was really just making observations about the increase of biodiversity on my patch and thinking about my impact, which is surely no bad thing. It’s made me rethink my use of grit, perhaps I can do a bit of stone bashing instead - I have a lot of stones.
I have recently noticed a certain cynical attitude towards this stuff on a ‘were all doomed anyway so why bother’ basis amongst some people I know who were assiduous about these things in the past, so I reckon a bit of back patting is needed sometimes to motivate.
I do hope the RHS isn’t encouraging people to put builders sand in clay soil How much do gardeners use as opposed to the building trade itself I wonder?
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
If I had a £ for every time my brother in law quotes the number of power stations being built in China every week as an excuse to carry on gas guzzling and plundering regardless I would be quite rich, raisingirl!
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
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From https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/apr/28/nine-gardening-myths-debunked :
And considering there is a global scarcity in building sand, and it's leading to environmental calamity, it's probably best avoided. Transportation is another massive issue.
The RHS is assuming that 'conversion' can only be done by importing lots of aggregate. Actually it can be done without it - it just takes much longer. If you want to make your garden over a weekend, or at most one growing season, it does take a disproportionate amount of oil based energy and limited resource. If you're willing to commit a couple of decades to the task, it takes a lot less non-renewable resource to do it.
Let the worms take the strain
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I have recently noticed a certain cynical attitude towards this stuff on a ‘were all doomed anyway so why bother’ basis amongst some people I know who were assiduous about these things in the past, so I reckon a bit of back patting is needed sometimes to motivate.
I do hope the RHS isn’t encouraging people to put builders sand in clay soil