South Wiltshire Agenda 21

Oxfam is now selling coir blocks for £2.49 (reduced in a number of their shops). They are very light to carry and all you need to do is put them into a bucket and fill it up with water. After 30 minutes you will have a very useable potting compost. The great thing is – no need to use peat. This is a really easy way to get compost to your garden – not heavy to carry, easy to use and eco friendly.

Janet Maxwell

As it was National Insect Week, the Maxwells at Marlborough Road hosted a mothtrap on the nights of 26 and 27 June. On the first night they recorded 56 different species of moth, one of which could not be identified. On 27th they recorded 63 different species, one of which, a privet hawkmoth, about 3″ long with beautiful black and pink striped underwings. Over the two nights 71 species were recorded, one of which was a Rosy Marbled, which has only been seen in Wiltshire once before in 1984. So we feel very happy to have seen such exciting moths over only two nights. For more info on moth counting contact John Muggleton on 01722 741487.

The same household has seen several slow worms this year, two of which were brought in by the cat, and were returned to their natural habitat unharmed.

We have had excess plants from the greenhouse this year, which have been put outside the house for people to take. All have disappeared.

We saved seeds at the end of last summer and have swapped them with friends and neighbours – so doing away with costly seed buying and the F1Hybrid horror.

Janet Maxwell

Our best route as consumers who care about the health of the countryside and ourselves is to keep organic farmers in business.

The European Union (EU) has done extensive research throughout Europe into the presence of traces of pesticides in our food. Findings show that 49% of fruit , vegetables and cereals have residues in or on them i.e. almost half of our food. Deep concern, particularly in mainland Europe, led to the proposed banning, in January, of a large range of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides which are in common use in ‘conventional’ agriculture and horticulture.

Farmers in the UK are outraged, saying that crop yields will fall dramatically without the use of these chemicals. But it is well known that many of these substances (especially used in combination) can be very injurious to human health, being carcinogenic, mutagenic and hormone-disrupting.

Read more on Thinking about pesticides in 2009