Radical Horticulture

One of the accounts I follow on Mastodon is Radical Anthropology. I find anthropology fascinating, as it’s looking at what actually happened rather than a glib assertion (eg patriarchy isn’t universal). David Graeber’s book Debt: The First 5,000 Years is my first anthropological venture.

This interest really has come about from reading Antonia Malchik’s brilliant newsletter On The Commons. Gardens are peculiarly human constructs, they are literally set into the landscape, yet the rise of individual property rights alongside an economic system predicated on corporate capitalism means the very foundations of our modern, individualistic, parcelled plots are shaped by the history of ownership over the past 400 years.

I coined the phrase Radical Horticulture in response to moving house, and the realisation that a private garden only lasts as long as the present private owners. Far better for community wildlife forest gardens, whose survival doesn’t rely upon one individual. However, it can be very difficult setting up a community garden (I’ve been trying to create wildlife allotments in my local town for a year now), it feels like against the grain of private ownership.

Also, when I’ve talked about growing native plants, creating wildlife habitat and establishing ecosytems because a) it’s good for wildlife and b) it increases crop yields, I have been getting a fair bit of pushback. This was an email I received from a subscriber to my local allotment newsletter:

Really, I didn’t think it was that radical! Wildlife gardening isn’t an either/or, it’s all of the above.

Forest garden photos

Inspirational quote

YouTube latest

I am back to livestreaming! Well, when I’m sat at my desk. It’s mostly me, noodling in CAD, writing lists of plants or researching planting schemes. I try to livestream 2-3 times per week, subscribe to be notified when I’m live.

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Quick links

• 2nd International #ForestGarden#FoodForest Symposium - Martin Crawford has very kindly made all these presentations and discussions freely available on his website. There is a shed load of material here, have a good rootle through.

• How to water your garden in a drought - by Rebecca McMackin. It’s been raining in West Wales for the past 6 weeks, but there was no rain for the previous 7, so good to learn this stuff before you need it.

• Keep the Kew Herbarium at Kew - I’m not one for sharing petitions very often but this is important, there are plans to break apart Kew Gardens.

• On Rabbits And Salad Bars in Suburbia - Benjamin Vogt hits all the right notes again “Do you have rabbit damage in your garden? Ready for a radical thought? It's not damage. It's nature.”

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Wildlife and food forest garden designer, remote design a speciality natureworks.org.uk/design