allergies Archives - Landscape Knowledge

Walking the The Bibbulmun Track,Western Australia

Ann and I had the pleasure of interviewing Linda Stanley after she had completed this 1000km walk in Australia.

Linda.

Linda undertook this walk on her own. It took the best part of 8 weeks to complete and more than three months to prepare for.

Linda isn’t your average walker by any means. She suffered some serious injuries, breaking her back in an accident. Being a somewhat determined lady she set about challenging herself to literally get back on her feet again.

We interviewed Linda in her new home, a beautiful chestnut farm in Nannup, Western Australia.

Linda’s web site can be found here…Chestnut Brae.

‘Grandy’s Long Walk’ is written for young children, superbly illustrated about her walk.

Linda wrote the book out of a concern that children today are spending less and less time with nature. Spending instead more and more time in front of the small screen. She hopes to encourage more children to get outside. Discovering the same senses of wonder and joy of nature that she had experienced on her long walk in the forest.

Listen to her telling us all about this amazing journey.

You can listen to the interview with Linda here..Walking the The Bibbulmun Track

Bibbulmun Track.

We were so curious about this really long walk, that during our research we found some youtube videos of other people who travel from all over the world to walk this track.

Darren is one such person, he created a video and kindly gave us permission to include it in this article. His video is just a part of the walk, you can view it here Bibbulmun track video

Darren is raising money for Diabetes you can see his web site here Darren’s website

There is also a specialist web site filled with information for those who want to plan their own walk..The Bibbulman Track

China our second interview from a recent trip to explore the environmental issues

Ann & Chris continue their interview with Bill Sosinsky , CEO of Energime University. Bill has recently returned from a trip to China. He talks to us about how the Chinese are adapting, planning and coping with the enormous growth the country has seen over the past few years.

Listen to this fascinating interview here … Growing Trends

Growing Trends new look and our first interview from a visit to China

Hello everyone, we hope you like our new logo ?

We have some great interviews planned for the next few months.

Our first is with Bill Sosinsky , CEO of Energime University. Bill has recently returned from a trip to China. He talks to us about how the Chinese are adapting, planning and coping with the enormous growth the country has seen over the past few years.

The interview is one of those must listen to events… we all have seen or heard of the Great Wall of China, a quite amazing feat of building, as seen here.

I wonder how many of us can comprehend the current building program? 100 million homes in the next 5- 10 years…!

Truly a monumental task of ingenuity, engineering and collaboration, Ann and I were just amazed talking to Bill about the growing issues they are trying to solve.

We will have two parts to this fascinating interview you can listen to the first part here – www.growingtrends.org

We would love to hear from you with ideas or suggestions on programs, either fill in the form below or just send us an email to info@grotrends.com

Ann & Chris

We would like to grow our team – could you help?

Ann & Chris have been busy preparing a new series of podcasts for you all to enjoy.

We have interviews with experts in the field of sustainability, recycling, food production, hydroponics and aquaponics. Our list of author interviews is growing all the time, we’ve recently added children’s book authors connected with nature.

You can hear them at Growing Trends

We would love to hear from you all with ideas and suggestions for interviews or articles.

Garden Centers are changing ……

Garden Centers are Changing.

In our second interview discussing the changing market for Garden Centers.

Ann visits Paris, France to talk to Valerie Langendorff, President of a Women’s Garden Executive Club.

Valerie looks at Garden Centers from the ladies perspective in France. Her ladies group have identified a number of interesting trends..

Women make 70% of the purchase decisions.

Currently 90% of Garden Centers are managed by men.

Their Executive Club have developed an annual awards program judged by women.

Ladies nights are arranged in the Garden Center – in our earlier interview we heard that a Garden Center in Switzerland had ‘Pole Dancing’ nights for ladies, as a way to exercise !

They have an award for the most women friendly Garden Center.

They have discovered that women like innovation more than men……

You can listen to this fascinating interview here or on iTunes

Results of our poll regarding our eBook.

Landscape Knowledge eBook

First of all thank you for all the replies.

Let’s start with the written requests –

1. Could we add information about Green Walls?

The short answer is certainly, this fully structural Green Wall was designed and built by us in 1984, it won an award, happily we know quite a bit about green walls, designed to last around 50 years they do not require any tie-back as they are designed as a ‘gravity wall’ . We will add a chapter about the How to and Where best to use these lovely walls.

2. Composts, Native and Perennial plants ?

A little more adventurous, next to a small pond.

We may need to add another eBook for this, what we may well do is add more about Allergies with this rather broad topic.

3. Removing and replacing a lawn – right time of year, plus best ways to water establishing new planting?

We will add a chapter on lawns and how best to use them, if you are in an area of long standing drought it is often wise to consider an alternative. It rather depends on how much area is involved , how much impact will be made. The picture above shows an area that could easily be ‘planted’ with alternatives. Sometimes a small green space in a compact garden is beneficial to the overall feeling of space – green is after all a very significant colour, and probably the most important in nature.

So the top three requests were –

Help with Veggie Growing

An eBook for consumers.

Help with water conservation.

Ann and I have taken out our quill pens and started to scribe…..the first ebook will be free for all subscribers to our blog site.

If you would like to write to us with other requests please do..

Ann & Chris

Growing Trends – you can hear our latest interviews at www.growingtrends.org or on iTunes at Growing Trends

How we look at Food today…

Ann and I interviewed John Stanley recently about his new book, he jointly wrote with his wife Linda, aptly named – Food Tourism – A Practical Marketing Guide.

The fastest growth in tourism today is the culinary sector.

Listen to John as he explains the overall direction of food tourism, including how he sees future development.

A few snip bits:

25% of the food we buy comes from 2% of the farmland around our cities, which is being swallowed up by development.

Farmers used to make 38 cents on every dollar now its down to an average of just 6 cents

Eating local seasonal food saves you around 25%, and is actually healthier for you!

You can hear this really informative interview at www.growingtrends.org or on iTunes at Growing Trends

Are you growing herbs and vegetables at home?

There has been quite a revival or is it renaissance in growing herbs and vegetables at home recently.

The beauty of growing at home is that the gardener knows where this food has come from, what he has used to grow it, and when it will be ready to harvest.

The produce tends to be fresh, packed full of nutrients, tastes delicious.

With more and more people are joining this healthy pursuit, we thought an interview with a true Garden expert would be of interest to you all.

There are a number of experts in the field of ‘How to Grow ‘ today we are interviewing the Square Foot Garden Guru – Mel Bartholomew

You can listen to the interview at www.growingtrends.org or on iTunes at Growing Trends.

It’s been a few years since Mel introduced us to space saving vegetable growing.

Today it seems even more appropriate as a way to “Garden in Less Space with Less Work using Less Water”.

We hope you enjoy this first interview with Mel, do let us know what you think and please send us your ideas, suggestions, comments and requests to info@growingtrends.org

Ann & Chris

A Growing Trend – is going on a plant safari …

“A rare moment of peace in the perfect haven of a garden brings us renewed harmony with nature”

A Growing Trend – is coming on a plant safari with us, to find those plants you need for our ideas…. it’s fun, it’s friendly and it’s great exercise….

First another in our series of before and after garden pictures –

Completed project, with garden 'opened up' and pool filled in. — Completed project, with garden ‘opened up’ and pool filled in.

It's amazing what a little planting can do.. — It’s amazing what a little planting can do..

or maybe like this…

Today’s pictures highlight the benefit of having a good designer when it comes to making changes…. You can see the ‘Before’ and then the ‘After’ in the pictures.

First the walls and steps are constructed

then the terrace and walls are constructed, finally the lawn and landscape.

Adding colour to a garden brings it alive !

We’ve started to take a ‘Hands On’ approach and show clients how to buy plants, how to place them and then how to plant them for maximum effect… it’s fun, it’s friendly and it’s good exercise now its time to enjoy …..

“A rare moment of peace in the perfect haven of a garden brings us renewed harmony with nature”

A fun low maintenance summer garden to enjoy.

You can listen to Ann & Chris’s fascinating interviews with industry experts at www.growingtrends.org or on iTunes at Growing Trends

We would love to hear from you with ideas, comments or suggestions..

“A rare moment of peace in the perfect haven of a garden brings us renewed harmony with nature”

Ann and I are going to produce a series of short daily articles that highlight

“A rare moment of peace in the perfect haven of a garden brings us renewed harmony with nature”

Today’s is a roof garden.

Some years ago, well alright 30 years ago we were asked to design and create a roof garden for a packaging company,

We had always designed to a module which enables you to replicate easily. In this case we took molds of rock faces and made some fiberglass containers that were deep enough to act as planters. This extra depth enabled the plants to really take root and grow, it also prevented the roots from interfering with the roof’s drainage system

Here’s how we made the planters..

You can listen to Ann & Chris’s fascinating interviews with industry experts at www.growingtrends.org or on iTunes at Growing Trends

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