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

Growing trends logo

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.

Great_Wall

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

Kin_Ming_Estate

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

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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.
Adjusted rose 1

 

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

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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?

Treated Structural Green Wall
Treated Structural Green Wall

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.
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?

Creating movement
Creating movement

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

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An eBook for consumers.

Listen to our digital library anytime
Listen to our digital library anytime

Help with water conservation.

Complete system

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

 

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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

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Heaven is a Garden

A few years ago I read a paper about how grasses ‘moved’ to music, then I read about the effects of harmonious sounds on plant growth.

Just using white summer bedding is very effective in such a large garden
Just using white summer bedding is very effective in such a large garden

Why do I mention this, well a few weeks ago we were talking about Tesla and his discoveries, which led us to talking about vibrations, sound waves, force fields etc., then a strange thing happened.

Ann and I interviewed a wonderful lady landscape architect Jan Johnsen, about her new book “Heaven is a Garden” we talked a little about how at a very young age she discovered during a science fair competition – which against all the odds she won – the effects early morning birds singing have on plants. The sound waves, which are similar to a violin stimulate a plant to open its stomata taking in carbon-dioxide to help it grow quicker.

Fushia
Fushia

Jan has written a new book called Heaven is a Garden, it’s a really fascinating and informative read.  Jan has ‘connected’ the dots so as to speak, between the natural world and our emotions. How the Four Winds are important when laying out a space,the careful use of curves, and my favorite Golden Rectangles and the Divine Proportion. – Phi is the mathematical proportion ( 1 : 1.618) we see in every natural form. Using this proportion ensures a sense of harmony in any outdoor space that contains it. I’ve always tried to use these proportions in my designs.

Jan then talks about Trees – natures rechargers as she puts it… The Celts called it shunnache, the Hindu tree devas, and Greek dryads…the Japanese consider the health giving properties of trees the basis of a medical therapy called ‘ forest bathing’ .

Jan then discusses the magnetic attraction in a Zen garden – rocks in these gardens reflect a deep understanding of the geomagnetic properties of stone and its impact on a place.

Finally the benefits of color in a garden.

Be inspired by Jan Johnsen's Book
Be inspired by Jan Johnsen’s Book

You can listen to our truly fascinating interview with Jan Johnsen at www.growingtrends.org or if you prefer on iTunes at Growing Trends

We would love to hear from you our listeners

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“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.

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

Artificial Rocks on Roof

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

Artificial Rocks
Artificial Rocks

 

Here’s how we made the planters..

Specialised planter box
Specialised planter box

 

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

 

Send us an email to Landscape Knowledge.com if you would like to be added to our mailing list of interesting articles

 

 

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Are we rediscovering a sense of community?

Today’s interview is really fascinating, our friends Bill Sosinsky and Rich Sapienza of Energime University discuss, coming trends, in particular the growing sense of community involvement. Community gardens the modern name for an ‘Allotment’ is a case in point.

Allotment
Allotment

The growing popularity of farmers markets, are helping to provide locally grown produce, that is grown in season, rather than having all food always available. There are some real benefits to eating ‘for want of a better word’ the right vegetables for the season.

Could you grow these?
Could you grow these?

We talk about water usage and the changes coming. To how we will all have to change some of our habits in these new times. In the meantime we all need to reconnect with nature, spend time to just take a stroll in a garden or park.

tree lined

You can hear our latest interview at www.growingtrends.org or on iTunes at Growing Trends

Ann & Chris would love to hear from you with suggestions for shows or just a comment about this show, you can find us on Facebook at  Growing Trends

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The Growing Potential of Algae

Our interview this week is with Bill Sosinsky and Joe Ravet, it’s all about the amazing properties of algae and  the work being done today that could transform many areas of our lives. This fascinating interview is in two parts, with the second part coming next week.

algae2

 

Algae has some fascinating uses :-

As an Energy Source –  a 737 plane flew from Houston to Chicago on fuel derived from algae, way back in 2011

algae for jet fuel

As a Fertilizer – from as long ago as the 16th century, seaweed has been used a fertilizer.

As a source of Nutrition – China has been consuming Algae for over 2000 years, they harvest over 70 species as does Japan, Ireland, Chile, Wales, Korea, California, New Zealand, Hawaii, Scotland, Greenland and Iceland to name a few. It was an ingredient in Aztec foods.

Oils obtained from some algae  have high levels of unsaturated fatty acids, others essential omega 3 fatty acids.

As a Pollution control –  treating sewage with algae, reducing the use of toxic chemicals that would be used. They can absorb fertilizer run off from fields. Aquariums can be filtered by algae

As a Pigment  – alternative to chemical dyes

As a Medicine – helping fight malnutrition, immune health, reducing cholesterol

algae 3

Amazingly  there could be more than 72000 algae species worldwide.

You can hear our interview with Bill Sosinsky and Joe Ravet on iTunes at Growing Trends or on our podcast at www.growingtrends.org .

We would love to hear from you, our email address is  info@grotrends.com

 

 

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Connecting with your landscape.

Pool layout2

Recently Ann and I have been out on safari helping clients design & plant new landscapes.

It’s always nice to  ‘keep your hand in’ as they say.

This time we tried a somewhat different approach.

herb pot 3

We took the clients to various nurseries  helping them choose the plants we were suggesting they would use.

frontage plants

Then we set out the planting on site helping them to plant, by using tried and trusted techniques we had learned over the years it helped to reduce transplant shock , giving the plants a great start. The clients learned a new way to plant.

It was really great fun, everyone enjoyed the experience, even the neighbors popped over to help.

We’ve already started to plan the next event… this time we are thinking of showing school children how, the last time we did this, some twenty years ago, every plant in the school project was planted at least five times.

Quiet garden in Primary School
Quiet garden in Primary School

The garden won a multitude of awards , there was no vandalism, with everything establishing well.

A Quiet School Garden
A Quiet School Garden

It’s time to teach our children’s children how to enjoy the calmness of a garden, to connect with nature and to learn so much more about our planet.

WorldWideWEsponsibility

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Growing Herbs & Veggies in your Flower & Shrub beds

Hello again everyone, this is Ann & Chris from Growing Trends – you can listen to our podcasts at Growing Trends

Yesterday we started a new series of Growing Herbs & Veggies in a variety of easy ways at home, rather than the more traditional row crop method.

One of our Hort Cuisine Kits
One of our Hort Cuisine Kits

Just to recap they are :

1. Introducing Herbs & Veggies to an existing  flower or shrub bed.

Can you spot the herbs & veggies?
Can you spot the herbs & veggies?

The Herbs & Veggies blend in and are almost invisible to the untrained eye.

2. Growing Herbs & Veggies in a container.

Stacked herb pot.
Stacked herb pot.

Growing in pots is great for those with restricted or small spaces. There are a few extra considerations you need to take for success, which we will explain.

3. Square Foot Garden

Square Foot Gardening

  • created by Mel Bartholomew, square foot gardens are one of the most efficient ways to grow your herbs & vegetables

4. Traditional ‘Allotment’ or ‘Community Gardens’

Allotment
Allotment

Allotments are particularly European ,

in Denmark they date back to 1778, in 2001 there were around 62,000 !

Finland started around 1916,

France, Czech Republic, Germany, Holland, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Russia, Portugal, England, all have long traditions of ‘Allotments’

Community Gardens are more an American version, which often started as a ‘Victory Garden’  in the second world war, and has developed into a Community Garden.

So lets start today with.

 1. Introducing Herbs & Veggies to an existing  flower or shrub bed.

veggie beds

There are usually lots of different places where you could insert herbs and veggies in an established garden, the secret is to work with the design.

A good time to find those elusive spaces is now as you start your spring cleaning of beds.

Remember to think about the plants final height, most will require at least 6 hours of sunlight

How often you will need to get close to the plant to gather the crop.

Check  regularly for pests and diseases and to feed & water.

Use low growing herbs, colourful cabbages instead of annuals for instance

Remember to add compost to the soil as they will still need nutrients

Place taller growing herbs and vegetables with taller shrubs towards the back of a border

With the lower growing herbs and vegetables towards the front of a border.

Remember flowers like Nasturtiums, Pansies,Orange blossom,Squash flowers  and Marigolds are edible ( but not if they have pesticides sprayed on them) – take a look at Eat your Roses for more ideas

You can add Squash, Tomatoes, Eggplants,Lettuce, Cabbage, Peppers, Cucumbers, Rosemary, Marjoram, Oregano, Parsley, Basil, Sage, Thyme, Strawberries, Blueberries,  Radish, Onion, Swiss chard, Apple, Cherry, Plum,  etc.,

Remember to feed regularly .

There is no need to ‘row plant’ be creative.

Now you can visually enjoy as well as enjoy eating.

You can listen to more great ideas on our Podcast at Growing Trends

Tomorrow we will talk about growing herbs & veggies in containers.

Chris & Ann are landscape designers, gardeners, inventors , radio show hosts, we live in the MidWest , are passionate about  food, cooking, wine and love to interview people who share our passion for the environment.

Growing Trends Ann & Chris

We would love to hear from you …

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