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Welcome to the
Greener Gardener
Website from
Vital Earth


making it easier to
be greener

Our Aims:

 

Ethical gardening advice and up to date information on green issues that matter to you.

Provide environmentally friendly, dependable growing media which includes compost, fertilisers and soil improvers. All specially formulated for a healthier greener garden.

 

Why should I use
Peat-Free?

See our Peat-Free Facts from an array of

sources, including: BBC experts and the

Wildlife Trust.


Being a “Greener Gardener”
really makes a difference

 

What is Compost,

Fertiliser and Mulch?

Our quick guide to the benefits

of each is below. For an easy

guide as to what to use when.

Our Stockists

We are continually adding new stockists
to sell environmentally friendly growing
media

 

For the Retailer

Current literature, marketing
material, endorsements,
high resolution images and
data sheets.

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The Greener
Times


Your update on Green Issues, Garden News
and Events

 

 

UK government to shoulder 25% of electric car purchase costs

The Environmental News February 26, 2010

The UK Department of Transport announced on Thursday that the British government will be constructing recharging hubs for electric cars and give as much as £5,000 to each individual who purchases an ‘ultra-low carbon’ vehicle starting next year.

Full Story

 

Giant Antarctic iceberg could affect global ocean circulation

Ice broken off from Mertz glacier is size of Luxembourg

The Guardian February 26, 2010

An iceberg the size of Luxembourg that contains enough fresh water to supply a third of the world's population for a year has broken off in the Antarctic continent, with possible implications for global ocean circulation, scientists said today.

Full Story

 

Ethical living: buying fruit and veg

Your five-a-day can arrive loaded with ethical headaches. So how do you pick clean, green fruit and veg?

The Guardian February 21, 2010

Support the underdog. You need cooking skills to disguise the taste of a cauliflower, but it's the king of British sustainability – and threatened through unpopularity.

Full Story

 

Salt warning to garden bird lovers

AOL Environmental news 17 February 2010

Householders are being urged not to put out salty leftovers for birds or add salt in bird baths to stop them freezing - as it could kill their favourite garden visitors.

With the UK still in the grip of winter, the RSPB said gardeners should not add salt to water left out for the birds in a bid to prevent it icing over.

Full Story

 

Time Team’ technology in war against waste crime

The Environment Agency, January 2010

An innovative technology that can map what’s buried underground is being used by the agency to search for waste buried illegally, and make sure the polluter pays for its clean up.

The newest state of the art equipment, known as resistive tomography, is similar to the kit used on Channel 4’s Time Team programme and uses electrodes inserted into the ground at regular intervals to emit an electrical current.

Full Story

 

Conservationists urge Gordon Brown to create 'Britain's Great Barrier Reef'

The Guardian, 27 January 2010

This week the 10,000th person joined a campaign to create the Earth's biggest marine protected area in the Chagos archipelago.
A coalition of conservationists is calling on the British public to urge Gordon Brown to create "Britain's Great Barrier Reef" by designating its territory in the Indian Ocean as the biggest protected marine area on Earth.

Full Story

 

Public supports ambitious scheme for micro-scale renewable energy.

The Guardian, 27 January 2010

Government officials are putting the finishing touches to plans to boost the take-up of renewable energy in Britain - which is the lowest in Europe - through a system known as the "clean energy cashback", or feed-in tariff.
In July last year the government unveiled the scheme which has been used successfully for years in other European countries and pays above-market rates for green electricity produced by consumers.

Full Story

 

Blobfish: world's most 'miserable looking' marine animal facing extinction

The Telegraph, 26 January 2010

The world's most miserable-looking fish is in danger of becoming extinct, according to scientists.

The fish, which lives at depths of up to 800m, is rarely seen by humans but it lives at the same depths as other ocean organisms, such as crabs and lobsters and other edible sea creatures.

Full Story

 

British society is frightened of gardening, says Alan Titchmarsh

The Telegraph, 25 January 2010

People have forgotten how to garden because instant technology has left us "afraid of the earth", according to Alan Titchmarsh.

The former Gardener's World presenter is fronting a new campaign with B&Q to try to encourage Britons to spend more time in their gardens. The retailer says that while sales of seeds are soaring, many of his customers have little knowledge of experience of making fruit and vegetables grow.

Full Story

 

'Primark effect' still clogging up UK landfills

Ecologist, 19th January 2010

Calls to bring forward ban on recyclable material sent to landfill increase, as reports emerge of big increases in the quantity of textile waste being dumped

The proportion of total waste sent to landfill annually has decreased by nearly a quarter in recent years, but in that time textile waste has risen to more than one million tonnes, driven by what MPs from the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) committee called the 'Primark effect', the tendency to discard low cost clothes quickly.

Full Story

 

Big freeze could signal global warming 'pause'

The Telegraph, 11 January 2010

The Arctic conditions which have brought Britain to a standstill over the past week could be the start of a "pause" in global warming, some scientists believe.

The world could be in for a spell of cooler temperatures, rather than hotter conditions, as a result of cyclical changes in ocean currents for the next 20 or 30 years, it is predicted.

 

Strauss family cuts their waste to just one binful a year

The Times, December 31, 2009

Like most families, the Strausses have a bin full of rubbish awaiting collection after the festive season. The difference in their case is that it contains all the refuse they have generated in an entire year.

Full Story

 

Compost used to create ecology park

Brownfield Briefing, December 31, 2009

Celtic Technologies will begin work in the New Year on reclaiming a derelict section of the Woolston New Cut Canal and creating an urban ecology park on an adjacent derelict site using green compost.

Full Story

 

Vultures face extinction as gamblers seek visions of the future

The Guardian, December 30, 2009

Inhaling smoked vulture's brain confers gift of premonition, according to vendors of traditional medicine in parts of Africa

"People believe it's foresight and this finds fertile ground in people's imagination. There is a lot of betting in South Africa. So we may see an increase connected to gambling around the 2010 World Cup."

Full Story

 

Wildlife struggle to cope in a changing climate but it’s not all bad

The Times, December 28, 2009

Surveys conducted by National Trust wardens across England and Wales indicate that wildlife has struggled to cope with a changing climate and loss of habitat, but that there have also been winners.

Full Story

 

Local Wildlife Sites under threat

Wildlife Trust, December 28, 2009

Inappropriate management’ and a ‘lack of management’ are the greatest perceived threats to Local Wildlife Sites in England, according to a report by The Wildlife Trusts.

Full Story

 

Why there's no sign of a climate conspiracy in hacked emails

New Scientist, December 04, 2009

The leaking of emails and other documents from the Climate Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia, UK, has led to a media and political storm. The affair is being portrayed as a scandal that undermines the science behind climate change. It is no such thing, and here's why.

Full Story

 

12 days that could save mankind

Conference Dates: December 7th – 18th

10th November 2009

Your guide to the issues, key players and countries taking part in the most important negotiations since the second world war

Full Story

The greenest show on Earth

5th December

For the next two weeks, events in Copenhagen will dominate the headlines. It is not for nothing that the pithily-entitled 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP15 for short, has been described as "the most difficult talks ever embarked upon by humanity".

Full Story

Universal re-cycling label gets a boost

5th December

Some businesses in the United Kingdom have come together to launch schemes that promote products that are friendlier to the environment.  Fifty of these companies recently joined a campaign to use a universal on pack recycling label so that customers are aware of what products use recycled materials.

Full Story

Government unveils smart meter plans

2 December 2009

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) said the smart meters, which enable power companies to take readings remotely and will spell the end of estimated billing, will save consumers money, make electricity use more efficient and cut carbon emissions.

Full Story

300,000 trees to be planted by young people across the UK this autumn

9 November 2009

This autumn hundreds of thousands of young people in schools and youth groups across the country are being provided with free tree saplings to plant in their school grounds and community spaces.

Full Story

People can further apply for a free tree and/or seeds pack for delivery in March 2010 by visiting http://www.woodland-trust.org.uk/hedge

Copenhagen climate conference glossary

22 September 2009

Negotiations at the UN's climate summit in Copenhagen in December will use a language that is full of technical jargon and confusing acronyms. environmentguardian.co.uk's guide helps you translate the terms that will be debated as world leaders aim to strike a deal that will attempt to prevent devastating climate change

Full Story

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