Climate change is on the agenda
Post categories: Sally Nex
| 14:02 UK time, Wednesday, 9 July 2008
It's reassuring to see how packed the Climate Change Dome is today. There was little complacency evident here as gardeners filed in to hear Met Office and RHS experts talk about this - quite literally - burning issue of our times.
Mind you, it's hard to have serious conversations about global warming when it's chilly and decidedly damp outside. If you're thinking Britain is more likely to be lagoon than Loire Valley in years to come, though, just take a look at the screens that greet you as you walk in. They project the path of temperatures and rainfall in the world over the next 100 years or so: red "extreme" areas spread like a virus over most of the world.
And if that's not enough, the Met Office has set up another tent next door, where you can try your hand at being a weather forecaster (though all the "forecasters" on this telly station were dripping slightly and wore definitely un-glamorous macs - I wonder if it'll catch on?) Ominously, the projected weather forecast for 2080 puts summer temperatures at 40°C in the south of England.
"It's not that every summer will be hotter than the last one," Dr Chris Prior, former head of horticultural science at RHS Wisley, explained to me. "We can have one or two wet summers, and the trend is still there."
Dr Prior thinks that it won't be easy for gardeners, but with longer growing seasons in prospect it's not all bad news. "Generally as the climate gets warmer, the opportunities are there to grow a wider range of plants," he says.
Water saving, and on the other hand coping with wet winters by raising beds and improving drainage, are top of Dr Prior's tips for helping your garden to keep pace with the change. Another RHS guru on gardening through climate change, Matthew Wilson, agrees, and adds that the gardener's mantra, "right plant, right place" is never more crucial than when you're gardening with a changing climate. In fact, he says, if you get that right and look after your soil, the rest follows naturally.
"My own garden gets the bare minimum of care - it's the horticultural equivalent of the plumber's dripping tap," he says. "But visitors say it looks lovely because I've used the right plants. So don't despair, it's absolutely possible to have a lovely garden that's sustainable too."
And if that's not enough, the Met Office has set up another tent next door, where you can try your hand at being a weather forecaster (though all the "forecasters" on this telly station were dripping slightly and wore definitely un-glamorous macs - I wonder if it'll catch on?) Ominously, the projected weather forecast for 2080 puts summer temperatures at 40°C in the south of England.
"It's not that every summer will be hotter than the last one," Dr Chris Prior, former head of horticultural science at RHS Wisley, explained to me. "We can have one or two wet summers, and the trend is still there."
Dr Prior thinks that it won't be easy for gardeners, but with longer growing seasons in prospect it's not all bad news. "Generally as the climate gets warmer, the opportunities are there to grow a wider range of plants," he says.
Water saving, and on the other hand coping with wet winters by raising beds and improving drainage, are top of Dr Prior's tips for helping your garden to keep pace with the change. Another RHS guru on gardening through climate change, Matthew Wilson, agrees, and adds that the gardener's mantra, "right plant, right place" is never more crucial than when you're gardening with a changing climate. In fact, he says, if you get that right and look after your soil, the rest follows naturally.
"My own garden gets the bare minimum of care - it's the horticultural equivalent of the plumber's dripping tap," he says. "But visitors say it looks lovely because I've used the right plants. So don't despair, it's absolutely possible to have a lovely garden that's sustainable too."
Comments Post your comment