Green Fingers
What is it?
The idea behind Green Fingers is to encourage and support people to Grow their Own vegetables and fruit and to garden in a way which supports biodiversity.
Why is it important?
Being outdoors and doing something positive is great for your mood. It’s also something to engage the kids or grandkids with.
Fresh vegetables are rewarding to grow and nutritious. They will be more tasty as they are picked when they are ready. Often supermarket produce is harvested early or less tasty varieties are grown as they survive long distances without damage. Using food in season also helps reduce your carbon footprint. It also encourages people to try something different.
Sadly Britain is one of the most degraded landscapes in the world and the decline in the wildflowers, insects and birds over the last 50 years has been shocking. We can all do our bit to counter this by improving biodiversity in our backyards.
No matter how much space and time we have there are always things we can do!
What are we doing?
SinCH produces a bi-monthly Green Fingers newsletter {see link here} which provides ideas, advice and tips. We also follow some SinCH members as they work out how best to do practical things.
We are planning to hold events such as seed and plant swaps and some hands-on demonstrations showing how to propagate your own plants. So watch out for news of this in on this web site, in the Green Fingers newsletters and the SinCH Facebook page.
Good sources of information
Some BBC video clips about how to do things
Herbs
What to do When
Sowing and Saving Seeds
Guide to sowing seeds
Collecting and storing seeds 1
Collecting and storing seeds 2
Some good sources on gardening for wildlife
Read these guides from the Wildlife Trusts and the RSPB
Encourage bats and amphibians
Thinking about your Carbon Footprint?
Growing your own saves on food miles but it’s not possible to grow everything you need so why not shop locally for your needs? See SinCH’s Green Directory {Link} for a list of local suppliers.
Home cooking, especially batch baking reduces food waste and encourages you to use seasonal produce. The BBC recipes website is a good place to start. For a list of what's in season when see here.
Growing your own? Make as much compost yourself and supplement it with peat-free compost. Most composts use peat and the destruction of peatlands releases their stored carbon. The Staffs Wildlife Trust at Wolseley Bridge sells peat-free compost.
Check out advice on making your own compost here, here and here. You can buy subsidised compost bins from www.getcomposting.com . Enter your postcode and code SWP13L or phone 0844 571 4444.
Interested in getting involved or need advice? Contact info@sinch.earth or via Facebook