What a good start it’s been. Twitter is already active with some great links on plant health including:- The beautiful 1 minute International Plant Protection Convention video “I am Plants – I am life”. https://youtu.be/cmPAwiIK2BU Xylella – a 4 minute video narrated by Dame Helen Mirren on what we should all know about the threat Xylella poses to 100s of our …
International year of plant health – what does that mean for me?
The designation of an international year means that the United Nations member states have agreed the issue is important to the world. https://www.un.org/en/sections/observances/international-years/index.html What does that mean for me? Over the course of 2020, I will be writing a series of blogs that touch on the international guidance, regulations and ongoing research in plant health, but from angles that are relevant …
Season’s greetings and sustainability thoughts
It’s not always easy to feel good about ourselves, especially if the big sustainability challenges seem overwhelming at times. For me, it helps to feel positive about the things I can do and to try to keep making changes to daily life to use resources sustainably. If sharing these thoughts encourages others to do some of the same, and importantly …
Getting ready for IYPH2020 – A New Year Takes Root
Read my article with Defra’s chief plant health officer Professor Nicola Spence in the Royal Society of Biology’s December issue of The Biologist https://thebiologist.rsb.org.uk/biologist-opinion/159-biologist/opinion/2251-a-new-year-takes-root
Grow Your Own Chips competition
One of my projects this year has been a “Grow your own chips” event for my family. I hope to convey the fun we had in this blog, as well as the why, how and possible impact. If it inspires anyone else to do something similar – all the better. For many years we have taken part in a potato …
Celebrating my MBE with the annual neighbourhood seedling swap
What better way to celebrate my MBE for services to Plant Science Education than to share the news with friends and neighbours at my annual seedling swap, where everyone brings and swaps surplus seedlings, mostly veg for the season but occasionally other plants too. Of course we catch up on other news as well over a cuppa, and this time …
Spreading the word: look for the UK-grown logo
Is there someone in your family you could prompt to look for the UK grown logo at garden centres and explain why it’s worth doing? Last May I wrote a short blog on this after visiting my local garden centre (https://celiaknightconsulting.co.uk/uk-grown-logo-look/). This year when my daughter said she was going to buy some plants I realised this is easy advice to …
Amazonia!
Disclaimer: All species and details have not yet been verified. Contact me if you intend to quote any. I was fortunate to be invited on a boat trip to Amazonia. I knew I would write a blog of some kind, but what would be the message? There could be so many. I settled on one of hope; hope for a long life …