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British Horticulture - Page 18

Young Landscapers Compete In WorldSkills Test As APL Launches Partnership
British Horticulture

Young landscapers started building gardens which could take them to Brazil, at this year's World Skills UK final in landscape gardening yesterday.
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Horticulture British

Notcutts Reveals Plan To Rebuild Maidstone Site As Part Of Shopping Village Development
British Horticulture

Notcutts in Maidstone, Kent, is to be rebuilt as part of a Land Securities-owned shopping village.Debenhams and Waitrose will anchor the Newham Court village. Notcutts' centre will be demolished and built elsewhere on site.Business director Michael Cole said the plan would help Notcutts compete against newer garden centres:"This is an exciting proposal and we hope Maidstone council gets behind it."
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British Horticulture UFO & Writing Art Education Sciences

Professional Gardener: Stop Thieves
British Horticulture

Now that it is dark for 16 hours out of every 24, it is important to check the integrity of boundary walls, fences, hedges and gates, and regularly test security lights, alarms and CCTV cameras, writes Sally Drury.
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Page 18 Horticulture British

Novel Garden Design Show To Swop Printed 3D Models For Plants
British Horticulture

There will be no plants, shrubs or even soil at the newest garden show to launch next year in London, and the designs are unlikely to win RHS medals.
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Horticulture British

Kings Seeds Looks To Past And Todays Generation With Poppy Promotion
British Horticulture

Kings Seeds will be donating funds from the sales of its new spectacular red poppy called Victoria Cross and its traditional field poppy to two charities in 2014.The first, The Victoria Cross Trust, was established as a charity just over a year ago and seeks to restore and maintain the war graves of servicemen awarded the Victoria Cross in the UK, the highest military decoration for gallantry and valour awarded to British and Commonwealth servicemen during many wars.The second is the Greenfinger s Rosy Cheeks Appeal to create gardens in children s hospices around the UK.The Victoria Cross Poppy, new to Kings in 2014, features a striking white cross planted firmly in the centre of the crimson flowers. Each individual petal is fringed, with lacy edges.A donation of 50p from every packet of all poppy seeds sold will put into a charity fund and these proceeds will then be divided equally between these two causes.The "Rosy Cheeks Appeal" set up by Greenfingers, aims to create ten new magical and inspiring hospice gardens, to be enjoyed by the families and siblings of children suffering from life limiting conditions, providing a place to spend valuable time together.Marketing manager Tracy Palmer said: "Next year, in 2014 we mark two special anniversaries; the 100th anniversary of The Great War and the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings on the Normandy Beaches in World War II, so we felt that it was very fitting that we mark these two anniversaries, recognising those that were awarded The Victoria Cross by helping to maintain the graves of those that made the ultimate sacrifice. They are of great historic importance and should be remembered and The Victoria Cross Poppy is a very appropriate flower to use."Tracy added: "Our second chosen charity looks to support today s generation. When we heard what Greenfinger s were hoping to achieve, it seemed a great opportunity to use our latest flower variety launch as a way to help them to raise funds to support their amazing projects around the UK. We will also be delighted to provide them with seeds from our extensive range to help create their Magical Gardens for the children s hospice."Kings Seeds' earlier plans to donate proceeds to services charities were thwarted due to an exclusive sponsorship deal between B Q and the Royal British Legion .The new Kings Seeds Spring Catalogue will be out from early January 2014 via www.kingsseeds.com
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British Horticulture

NFU Welcomes "pragmatic" Decision By Government On CAP Modulation
British Horticulture

The NFU has welcomed a decision by the Government to modulate CAP at 12 per cent for the next four years calling it a 'sensible and pragmatic decision which will help England s farmers and growers to remain competitive, produce more food and maintain the environment".NFU Deputy President Meurig Raymond said: "I am delighted that Owen Paterson has decided to keep the rate of modulation below the maximum for the next four years along with a Government review to be launched in 2016 to consider the transfer rate from payments in 2018."I appreciate this was not any easy decision for the Secretary of State to make but we are pleased that he has listened to our arguments."I would like to thank the EFRA Select Committee and many rural MPs who have supported us in recent days.The reduced rate of transfer to the Rural Development budget will mean that 224million will be retained in the farming sector over the next four years.Added Raymond: "This issue has falsely been presented as a fight between farming and the environment. It is not. Even at nine per cent transfer the NFU has demonstrated that we could continue to meet all our on-going commitments to agri-environment programmes and have a surplus to spend on other measures. At 12 per cent there will be additional funds available and we will play our full part in determining how these might best be spent."The new rate is more than the current rate which is nine per cent but the NFU said that once the decision had been taken at EU level to reduce the UK s Rural Development budget allocation and once the UK Government's Treasury decided to reduce its contribution, it was difficult to avoid some increase in the rate.Raymond expressed "deep disappointment" at the decision by the Welsh Assembly Government to introduce a 15 per cent rate.
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British Horticulture - Page 18

Pollination By Bees Beats Wind And Self Pollination For Quality And Quantity Of Strawberries
British Horticulture

Pollination by bees improves the quality, quantity and market value of strawberries compared with wind and self pollination, a team of German and Swedish researchers has found.The conclusions were based on a field experiment in which nine commercial strawberry varieties were subjected to self, wind and bee pollination using exclusion treatments.The bee-pollinated berries were also found to be heavier, redder, had fewer malformations and were graded more highly. Being firmer, they had improved handling and shelf life, with a reduction in losses of 11 per cent compared with non-bee-pollinated fruit.The researchers wrote: "The quality and yield effects are driven by the pollination-mediated production of hormonal growth regulators." As this effect occurs in many pollinated crops, the findings 'should be transferable to a wide range of crops".They added that bee pollination "appears to be economically more important than previously recognised and needs better support".
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British Horticulture Sciences Education Art Writing & UFO - Page 18

Polar Vortex Could Knock Back Emerald Ash Borer Says US Pest Expert
British Horticulture

The deep freeze affecting central North America could provide a respite in the spread of the devastating emerald ash borer ( Agrilus planipennis ). Robert Venette, a US Department of Agriculture research biologist based at the University of Minnesota, has been researching the effect of the cold on the destructive tree pests. "It's around minus 20 [Fahrenheit, or -28 C] that things get really interesting - roughly half of the larvae will die," he said. "Once the temperature is -30 [-34 C], there's a 90 percent mortality rate." The beetle is likely to spread into central Minnesota, threatening the midwest state's one billion ash trees - an outcome Venette described as "economically and ecologically devastating". But with a reprieve brought by the cold snap, "communities have more time to find those infested trees and get them removed," he added. Emerald ash borer was first discovered in the US in 2002 and has since spread to 22 states. It first appeared in European Russia in 2007 and is thought be advancing westwards at 30-40km a year.
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