GT112 School Garden Projects have many positives, you can hear many of them here.

Children-eating-salad

Is this really salad ? it tastes so good like this !

Ann & I were fortunate to talk to three amazing ladies from Tennessee a little while ago. They wanted to start a school garden at their school, here is their story, the school garden is now in its third year.

Raised beds

Some of the main points we heard were:-

It's essential to have teacher as well as parent support.

Take time to plan carefully

Initially growing from seed is harder , due to the school calendar. 

Choose plants that will fit into this schedule.

The children want to take ownership of their plants !

Educating children in the different choices of produce increases the varieties they will eat.

Children really take pride in taking home to their family the produce they have grown.

In a blind radish test, the children could tell which were home grown as opposed to store bought and much preferred home grown !

strawberry picking

Ann & I would love to hear from you.  info@grotrends.com

If you would like us to put you in touch with these wonderful ladies,or if you would like more information on starting your own school garden just send us an email to Growing Trends and we will be in touch. If you would like us to interview you, send us a picture of your garden along with contact details, we will be adding a section to our web site www.grotrends.com specially on School garden projects.

Thank you Penny, Peggy and Emily, this was a fascinating interview.

Ann & Chris

 

 

 

 

GT111 Eating fresh local food

Here in the USA its Spring, time to think about fresh vegetables, fruits and herbs. It's even more important this year with the continuing drought in California where a lot of the countries fresh produce is grown as they now have a mandatory 25% reduction in water use.

If you are growing at home one of the most effective methods that has passed the passage of time is Mel Bartholomew's  – Square Foot Gardening method – Ann and I will be interviewing Mel very soon.

Square Foot Gardening

Before we do, Ann and I were privileged to interview Nellie, she is a young mother who is passionate about eating fresh produce on a low budget.

Our interview is inspiring for those who want to find the best way to eat fresh local food. Nellie explains how to balance your budget and yet find good healthy fresh food.

This is one very astute young lady, who is passionate about food – her mum tells me,she is also a great cook..

GT108 Fracking – is this the future for oil?

Ann & Chris continue their fascinating talk with Rich Sapienza and Bill Sosinsky.

Today we spend time talking about Fracking a relatively new industry with maybe a huge potential.

Rich works with the 'Fracking' industry and has some interesting things to say on it's behalf.

 

shale_gas_extraction

Do let us know what you think. Could this be a way for the world to enjoy cheaper oil for years to come?

GT106:Sustainability for the world today.

Ann and Chris interview Rich Sapienza and Bill Sosinsky  we talk about sustainable solutions for the world today.

It's fascinating, interesting and very enlightening.

allotment

Sustainability must work on its own, grow on its own, support itself with the built-in ability to endure and grow naturally. There must be a plan. As long as we rely on subsidies and philanthropy as the means by which we re-establish our sustainable balance on this planet, we are ultimately doomed. This lack of strategy insures we run out of sufficient monies way before we have fully addressed these essential challenges. The simple answer is that everything must work together and their needs to be a singular general vision that incorporates the best efforts of all the contributing parties

GT103:Patti talks about her Bees & Bee keeping

Honey beePatti is one of those rare ladies, an expert bee keeper and a fascinating speaker. Listen to her explain the intricate lifestyle of the honey bee, it's truly fascinating and very educational.

We visited Patti at her lovely country home one Saturday morning.

Hello world!

Growing Trends is about people, people who are passionate about their environment, their gardens & landscapes and the experts who help them.

Ann & Chris

Ann & Chris bring together interesting  topics  on the environment, gardening and landscaping  then discuss them with fascinating people from around the world

February's & March's programs

We are concentrating on sustainability, with our second interview with Bill Sosinsky, then a fascinating series of interviews with Rich Sapienza discussing , solar power,  fracking , food production, simple solutions to growing environmental issues.

We will also include some interviews with authors of some really interesting books – you can see who on our Book Review pages on www.grotrends.com

We welcome comments and suggestions… just drop us a line at info@grotrends.com