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Sally Nex @sallynex.bsky.social · 3h

Still pickin'! Last of the tomatoes still ripening on the vine, watering sparingly (half can every other day) and greenhouse shut to trap sunshine & warmth. I think I'll hold out another couple of weeks before I clear the plants and turn remaining green toms into chutney 😋 #gardening 🌱

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Sally Nex @sallynex.bsky.social · 2d

Happy new year! 😂 first seedlings of the new gardening year on their way up - sowed these hardy broad beans a week or two ago (good old Aquadulce Claudia, never disappoints 💚) #peatfree, #plasticfree, #pesticidefree Looking forward to enjoying these next summer - love low impact food #gardening 🌱

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Sally Nex @sallynex.bsky.social · 6d

This may help? pebblemag.com/peat-free-co... you can also make your own potting mixes at home, it's not difficult and is zero plastic as well as zero peat, also nearly free 😊

9 Peat-Free Compost Brands That Nourish Plants & The Planet

Want to feed your plants without fueling climate change? Then, for peat’s sake make the switch to peat-free compost brands who are...

pebblemag.com

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Reposted by Sally Nex

Jack Wallington @jackwallington.com · 6d

If you're still using peat based compost, it really is time to stop. It's dug straight out of precious natural habitat and releases tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere (literally) in the process. Here's a guide, there are loads of good brands out there www.jackwallington.com/how-to-figur...

How to figure out if a compost brand is good or not and the brands of peat free compost I use | Jack Wallington | Nature & Gardens

Around the world the vast majority of plants on earth grow in a mix of mineral soil and composted organic matter - only those in peatland grow in peat. Over the last ten years I have grown almost ever...

www.jackwallington.com

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Sally Nex @sallynex.bsky.social · 7d

Love Hodmedods 💚 the peaty bits of East Anglia shouldn't need watering - they have been artificially drained for agriculture. Rewetting them returns them to their normal wetland state - no watering required. As intact peatlands hold water so well, they're beneficial to surrounding soils too 😊

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Sally Nex @sallynex.bsky.social · 8d

This is true... though the way things are going who knows in a few decades time. I like that they're experimenting with actual edibles for paludiculture as well as biofuel/willow and compost ingredients (farmed sphagnum) tho

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Sally Nex @sallynex.bsky.social · 8d

A glimpse of the future? At @peatfree.bsky.social we often talk of #paludiculture as a way to keep #peat in the ground while providing income for farmers on peaty soils. Now they've grown rice on rewetted peat in Cambridgeshire www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... #endpeatsales 🌱 #gardening #climatechange

UK's first rice crop ripe for picking after hot summer

Paddy fields are thriving in a quiet part of east England and might help feed us in the future.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Sally Nex @sallynex.bsky.social · 19d

Oh amazing thank you! So it is a fairy ring then 😍 love that 💚

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Sally Nex @sallynex.bsky.social · 19d

Anyone know what kind of shrooms these might be? Sprouting on the lawn in a garden i look after... they're in a rough circle so was wondering if it's a fairy ring? 🍄🍄🍄 #fungi 🌱 #gardening

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Sally Nex @sallynex.bsky.social · 24d

#gardening 🌱

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Sally Nex @sallynex.bsky.social · 24d

Here's a lovely bit of peace and quiet amid all the madness... Lemon Queen perennial sunflowers are the best thing in my garden this time of year. Kudos to my daughter Ruby for filming & editing 🥰

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Reposted by Sally Nex

Jack Wallington @jackwallington.com · Aug 30

The entire gardening industry is looking at Labour wondering when they will act - the legislation is agreed and waiting to be signed off! Over a year of inaction. Democracy shouldn’t be this hard.

Nic Wilson @nicwilson.bsky.social · Aug 30

Saddening to hear, but not surprising.

Vast areas of peatland destroyed since peat ban announced exactly 3 years ago | The Wildlife Trusts

It has been three years since the UK Government announced that it would ban the sale of peat for use in the amateur gardening sector, yet there is still no sign of legislation to enact the ban.

www.wildlifetrusts.org

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Sally Nex @sallynex.bsky.social · Aug 27

Damson vodka made & brewing nicely 😄 recipe:
1kg damsons
500g sugar
1 litre vodka
...err, that's it 😋
Stab the damsons all over with a skewer, load into Kilner jars, add sugar pour over vodka & seal. Shake daily for 2 weeks then weekly for 2 months. Decant into bottles, enjoy #recipe #homegrownbooze

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Sally Nex @sallynex.bsky.social · Aug 26

Well that's one approach to fencing 👀 as seen in a local woodland #treetorture

Sally Nex @sallynex.bsky.social · Aug 25

Carnivorous plants are creepy 😱 this Venus flytrap had been so successful in the greenhouse it was studded with the dried husks of digested flies 🤢 we pulled them out with tweezers. Anyone know why they don't get rid of the carcasses by themselves? #dionaea #venusflytrap #gardening 🌱

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Sally Nex @sallynex.bsky.social · Aug 21

In the depths of winter two years ago I planted a bare root damson tree specifically so I could make damson vodka.
And now..... 😋 god I love gardening #nomnom #bringonthebooze #gardening 🌱 (recipe incoming at some point soon 😊)

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Sally Nex @sallynex.bsky.social · Aug 19

Black #tomatoes are my faves for rich, mouth watering flavour 🍅 it's sometimes difficult to know when to pick tho: green immature fruits turn black but wait a little longer and you'll find a tinge of red creeps in - once most of the fruit is red it's ripe 'n' ready 😋 #gardening 🌱 #vegetablegrowing

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Sally Nex @sallynex.bsky.social · Aug 14

Spending time with botanists is hilarious and inspirational in equal measures. Yesterday I spent hours covering around 300 metres, mostly on my knees, gazing in wonder at the most beautiful #wildflowers - all just a few centimetres tall. Normally I'd have marched past without noticing #stopandstare

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Sally Nex @sallynex.bsky.social · Aug 12

This is where all that's exciting in #gardening is happening at the moment 💚 new ideas, new approaches, new thinking to sweep away all the old tired #peat, #plastic & #pesticides models of the past. Bring on a kinder, greener future www.wildinggardens.co.uk

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Sally Nex @sallynex.bsky.social · Aug 11

"All the determination has evaporated" - my blog post on massively disappointing 2023 #peat use stats in #horticulture showing progress to #peatfree has all but stalled due to lack of legislation peatfreepartnership.org.uk/silence-on-legislation-stalls-peat-free-progress/ #gardening 🌱 #endpeatsales

Silence on legislation stalls peat-free progress - Peat Free Partnership

We’ve been waiting a while: but at last, 16 months later than promised, the updated statistics for peat use in the UK horticulture industry have been released. These are the...

peatfreepartnership.org.uk

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Sally Nex @sallynex.bsky.social · Aug 5

So sad to see this... the garden has been in trouble for a while but you always hope it might recover. One of the loveliest English landscapes, steeped in history: I do hope someone sweeps in and saves it 🤞 #hestercombe #somerset #historic #garden 🌱 www.somersetcountygazette.co.uk/news/2536674...

'The estate is no longer viable': Hestercombe House goes into administration

Hestercombe House and Gardens has gone into administration after the trustees declared the estate is "no longer viable under its current…

www.somersetcountygazette.co.uk

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Reposted by Sally Nex

Jack Wallington @jackwallington.com · Aug 4

I’m looking forward to this, from so many beautiful writers

Bluemoose Books @ofmooseandmen.bsky.social · Aug 4

We have some of the finest writers on nature around

Contributing to :

The Book of Bogs - which is publishing in September.

The destruction of our bogs and peat lands.

Including:

Amy Liptrot
@horatioclare.bsky.social
Robert McFarlane

Edited by Anna Chilvers & Clare Shaw

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Sally Nex @sallynex.bsky.social · Jul 31

Talking #peatfree plant shortages on HortWeek: "It's a big opportunity for growers - there isn't stock available... because there's no [peat-free] stock overseas, so it's an opportunity because the UK is further down the road with peat-free than everybody else" #endpeatsales @marycreagh.bsky.social

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Sally Nex @sallynex.bsky.social · Jul 28

We will see what we can do 😊

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Sally Nex @sallynex.bsky.social · Jul 28

And *peat 🙄😜