Guardian Author Uncovers Benefits of Petroleum-Based Plastic Greenhouses – Is It Up With That?

Guest essay by Eric Worrall

Guardian gardening expert Kim Stoddart escaped climate change in South East England by moving to a frigid Welsh hilltop – then discovered her tomatoes wouldn’t grow.

Why climate change gardening means breaking all the rules

Kim Stoddart
Saturday, December 4, 2021 22.00 AEDT

EIn 2010, I moved from a house with a neat little garden behind me in Brighton to a desolate cottage 200 meters above sea level in Llandysul, Wales. Concerns about the climate crisis are at the heart of my move: I live at sea level, near an underground river, and worry about flooding. But most of all, I longed to live somewhere where I could be self-sufficient.

After weighing the options – Spain (extremely hot) and New Zealand (hot but far away) – I decided on Wales. I think water shortages are unlikely, and property and land can both be bought. So I put my old life aside to turn my passion for homegrown organic food into a full-time career – writing, running courses, giving public presentations.

Gardening in this area of ​​west Wales is very different from gardening in Brighton – the land is better suited for livestock than farming and it is a steep learning curve. It is not possible to grow tomatoes, tomatoes, peppers and peppers outdoors normally in this cooler and wetter climate. No protection from strong winds, no respite from incessant rains (and drought in 2018). And there are no fruit trees above sea level in a place blown by the wind, or so I have been told. As a result, I had to adapt all my gardening techniques.

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I don’t use fertilizer on hungry Mediterranean fruits like tomatoes (which I grow in a tunnel) because it makes them need more and prevents their roots from seeking natural resilience through symbiotic relationships with fungi in the ground. Instead, make your own compost from leaf mold and fortify it with bellflower, nettle, seaweed, chicken manure, and borage.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/dec/04/why-climate-change-gardening-means-break-all-the-rules

Multi-tunnels are inexpensive plastic greenhouses (see top of this post). But plastic is cheap Polythene produced from ethylene, a petroleum product.

To be fair, Kim seems like a pretty decent person, her social enterprise team Organic garden “…Help teachers and school professionals develop gardening projects that teach children about food origins, develop their environmental and science awareness, and encourage them to eat more fruits and vegetables. .”.

But one Guardian horticulture expert expressed surprise that Mediterranean vegetables couldn’t grow on Welsh hilltops without a lot of help from our plastic friend – what she’s expecting. what? Does she really think global warming has made the hills of North Wales a suitable location for warm climate vegetables?

Don’t get me wrong, I have fond memories of Wales, so many friendly people in Cardiff and Swansea who made me feel welcome in their communities. But even the south of Wales is really cold and wet for most of the year, let alone some of the hilltops in North Wales.

The BBC predicted in 2005 that Britain will have a Mediterranean climate in 2050. But I guess those hoping to grow Mediterranean climate vegetables in the hills of frigid North Wales will have to wait a lot longer than 2050, before they can ditch their Greenhouses. me.

Correction (EW): Mediterranean climate vegetables – as Tom Halla points out, tomatoes and eggplants are not native to the Mediterranean.