The Importance of Going Organic

Through this blog I want to emphasize the idea of doing Gardening Organically. Most of the people though out the world choose to Garden to control the type of food they eat without the fear of chemical or preservatives, to minimize themselves and their loved ones from the hazards of commercially grown vegetables. The side effects of chemical pesticides can take its toll on human body. 

Everyday we are using lots of chemicals in the form of soap, shampoo, toothpaste, many foods and even in clothing which are manufactured by the use of chemicals. But we are concentrating on gardening and use of those chemicals on our foods. The most common ways by which the chemicals are introduced to our food is by use of chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides. 

The use of chemical fertilizers can be very tempting as these are quick acting short term plant boosters and you can see the growth of plants after putting the fertilizers within few days. But in the long race these do more bad than good. 

1.       It deteriorates soil fertility and soil life(which includes earthworm, the ever known friend of farmers).

2.       Preventing plants from getting very essential trace elements make them vulnerable to

diseases.

3.       Many artificial chemical fertilizer contains Acids, such as Sulfuric or Hydrochloric, which increases the pH of the soil. By killing earthworm it also reduced the natural aeration of the soil.

4.       When plants are supplied with much nitrogen(which is abundant in chemical fertilizers) and medium amount of phosphate it can easily contact mosaic infections.

If you think about it, Organic Gardening is a very simple story. For years people have been growing foods without the use of chemicals. It would only make sense to use the same techniques and the get the same results. Organic gardening not only benefits us or our family rather it also helps in maintaining the equilibrium of the ecology and environment which have been severely hampered by the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

1.       Among the many advantages of growing food organically, first and foremost is the food produced using Organic Gardening is more nourishing and beneficial to health. Vitamin C and dry matter contents are far more higher in organically grown crops than in its non organic siblings.

2.       Mineral contents are far better in Organic crops than in non organic ones.

3.       Substantially higher amount of Antioxidants and health promoting compounds are present in Organically grown crops than their counter part which have been cultured with the help of pesticides. Antioxidants can greatly reduce the risk of Cancer.

4.       You can save money not only by growing your own food but also can make some extra cash by selling your “all organically grown food” which are so popular in grocery stores these days.

In case you want to start your own Organic Gardening but due to some time constrain not been able to, you might want to check this site.

If you have any other points to add or disagree with me in any point please feel free to comment.

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the Importance of Being Soil

I hope this post isnt seen as a rant about allotments as, although this post is about allotment land in Bristol, its actually about far more than that. Its about soil and food security going into an uncertain future where the vagaries of climate change and its effects are still to be seen.

When I moved to Bristol I was regularly told that there were no allotments to be had in the city, they were all full, and until I did some digging around this seemed to be the case. It took a Twitter conversation to find out that allotments are available here as long as youre not fussy in terms of where you have one. So I took a journey out of the city centre to Stapleton, and looked around Stapleton allotments with the site rep and took on Plot79. 

Now I knew this site was under threat, and I also knew it was Grade 1 agricultural soil, and if Im honest I probably knew that I was going to get caught up in the fight for the allotments, but first and foremost I had my plot and for me, that was the most vital point. 

Did I take much note of the Grade 1 soil status? Not really, until I began to get the most incredible yields from crops that had been really late sown and that, in all honesty, I hadnt thought Id get much from. We had periods of real dryness and yet still the produce kept coming-lettuces and leaves, French beans, tomatoes, chillies and squash to name but a few, and buckets of flowers. 

At this point it began to dawn on me that I was pretty darn lucky to have this plot and began to get my head around not just the fact that it was under threat but also that there were groups of people, such as The Blue Finger Alliance, working really hard to save this land.

The stretch of land heading out of Central Bristol on either side of the M32 is called The Blue Finger, and its called that because on a map of soils land of this quality is coloured blue. The finger stretches right up into South Gloucestershire and is home not just to our allotment site, but also to Feed Bristol, an outstandingly beautiful community food growing project and to Sims Hill, a community supported agriculture business, as well as various small holdings. Look on a map of Bristol from years gone by and the land the allotments and Feed Bristol is on was called The Nursery and the history of the land is that it was always Bristols market garden, producing food for the city. This history is phenomenol, and tells tales of lives past and of families that still live in the area to this day.

And yet in our greed for time all this could be lost. The planning committee meet next Wednesday, the 27th, to determine whether a bus only junction should be allowed that will take out 60% of the allotments as well as an enormous chunk of a Feed Bristol and part of the Stoke Park Estate that is on the opposite side of the M32. Not only will Grade 1 agricultural land be lost, forever, but this land is all Green Belt, which national policy dictates should only be built on if there is no option to build elsewhere, which there most definitely is, and much of the land has specifically been managed for wildlife and nature. The stunning wildflower meadow at Feed Bristol will be turned into a road with an enormous bus stop in it, and effectively what allotments are left will be part of a roundabout for a bus.

But, I hear you cry, they have to offer alternative plots, and this they are doing. However, the Allotment Act states that any allotment that is bring moved must be put onto land that is as good or better than the land previously used by the allotment holder, this is, of course, impossible when the land being moved from is Grade 1.

At this point I have to say far be it for me to argue that Bristol doesnt need a better public transport system. As a bus user and non driver I agree it needs to be high on the agenda. But, and heres the crux, Grade 1 soils make up less than 3% of the countrys soil and has proven its resilience over and again against drought and flood, holding onto its structure and nutrient content when lesser soils would have failed. Since the a Industrial Revolution we have consistently used the same 38% of land in the UK to grow food and much of that land has reached and gone over its peak health and is now struggling. We have expected these soils to produce higher and higher yields through the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, and now many of them are starting to struggle, particularly where they have had to manage flood or drought. Surely we need to create policy to secure this Grade 1 land across the UK, and safe guard it for the futures of generations to come?

Imagine returning to a reality of local producers using this land and land like it in pockets across the country, to feed local food to local people. Is this a pipe dream? I think not, and more and more I am speaking to people who believe this could be the vision for food security in the UK. Lets put food growing at the same level and importance as transport and create holistic policies that look at transport, food production, health, education and wealth on the same level. And lets make specific soil policy so that these soils are protected going into the future.

Below is the link to a petition asking the Mayor of Bristol to help stop this. At this juncture I feel compelled to say that the Mayor cannot just stop this as there are contracts in place that would mean Bristol would have to pay huge penalties if it pulled out, but none the less it is to the Mayors councillors we are looking to say no at planning committee. Please sign this petition and then please look at the following link, produced by The Blue Finger Alliance, which is the alternative vision of The Blue Finger, and what we would all like to see happen.

There are also some photos of the land below.

http://chn.ge/1rZRjFH

http://www.bluefingeralliance.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/The-Blue-Finger-Vision.-A-world-class-hub-of-urban-agriculture-for-the-Bristol-city-region.pdf

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Bus v BMV Soil Part 1

Last Wednesday Planning Group B voted in favour of the bus route that will see a bus only road take out 60% of my allotment site, half of Feed Bristol, Avon Wildlife Trusts award winning community food growing project and Stoke Park, the last Thomas Wright designed landscape that is still in one piece in the country.

The soils in this area are known as Bristols Blue Finger, a finger shaped piece of Best and Most Versatile soil that stretches out of Bristol along either side of the M32, out into South Gloucestershire. These soils are special not just because they are incredibly fertile, but they also withstand the vagaries of both flood and drought, which heading into a future where we are not sure of the effects of climate change, will be vital to ensure we can produce local food for local people. Historically this land was Bristols Market Garden, supplying fruit and vegetables to the city seasonally. 

The planning committee meeting was what can only be described as disappointing. It became obvious as the process began that no matter how many people stood up and spoke passionately about saving this land, the allotments, Feed Bristol and Stoke Park, complaining that consultation had been minimal and hadnt engaged with groups who are on the statutory list of consultees, let alone the allotment holders themselves, that this was not about communities or saving local food production, but was about money and corporate greed. It was about moving the population from their homes to a few large areas of trading and business in South Gloucestershire, and then back again at the end of the day, something that puts well used bus routes that run now, at risk. The chair of the committee at one point even laughed at how he had been on the planning committee that passed permission for the M32, which not only covered acres of BMV soils in the 1960s but also split the city in two, in a way that can never be changed. The councillors on the committee were bullied and harangued, told funding would be gone if the consent wasnt passed and to say the chair was patronising and rude would be kind.

I was appalled, and I know I was not alone. 

Of course what is needed is for BMV land to be given policies that surround it to stop this kind of development. What is vital to remember is that less than 3% of the UKs soils are BMV so a policy stopping development on it would leave 97%+ of soils left. There is a strategy document written by Defra that states that by 2030 BMV soils will be immensely challenging to develop but that is still just strategy. This needs changing at local and national levels.

But what also must be looked at is why we have to move people around the city to work in often low paid jobs, when we should be working on local jobs for local people, as well as how the decisions made by the citys councillors should show the concerns of the people of the city. There has been much discussion of the facts that this route doesnt serve any hospitals, or any of East Bristol, which is desperate for decent, affordable bus services.

So what next? There are 19+ groups, including The Blue Finger Alliance, Alliance Against Metrobus and the Civic Society, continuing the fight against this dreadful decision. There is also a letter from the National Allotment Holders Assoc stating that the land set aside the replace the allotments is of poorer quality than the plots are on now, a fact that breaks the Allotment Act of 1925 which says if allotments are to be moved it must be to equivalent or better soils. There is talk of direct action and protest. But whatever happens it is a sad day when a committee decides that whilst being European Green Capital in 2015 it is a good idea to concrete over BMV soils to serve big business.

It seems independent Bristol has a long way to go. 

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