‘Dig for victory’, RHS climate campaigners urge gardeners
A climate campaign to mobilise the biggest gardening army since “Dig for Victory” in the Second World War has been launched by the Royal Horticultural Society.
The charity aims to help the UK’S 30 million gardeners take action in their own backyard to cut greenhouse gas emissions and boost wildlife in efforts to help tackle the climate and nature crises.
Gardeners are being encouraged to take planet-friendly actions such as planting trees and using rainwater to water plants. The RHS said its research shows that if every gardener planted a medium-sized tree and nurtured it to maturity, it would store the carbon equivalent of driving 11 million times round the planet.
But Yougov polling for the charity found less than a fifth (19%) of UK gardeners say they have specifically adopted sustainable gardening principles such as making their own compost or reducing fossil fuels. Separate research found nearly 40% of gardeners still use garden tools powered by fossil fuels.
And while pledges for the RHS’S water saving mains2rains campaign will save 6.6 million litres, or 82,385 baths of tap water, the charity says there is more to be done.
It is developing a planet-friendly sustainability calculator, an onlinetool to empower gardeners to make the best sustainable plant and gardening choices. And it has come up with a list of 10 actions gardeners can take to help nature and the climate.
The RHS is also calling for Government support to help gardening make a difference.
The RHS is launching the planetfriendly gardening campaign as part of its own sustainability strategy, which includes measures to be climate positive - capturing more emissions than it puts out - by 2030.
It also aims to eliminate all singleuse plastic, ensure all packaging is 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable, and be water neutral at RHS gardens, shows and sites by 2030.
RHS director general Sue Biggs said: “The RHS is committed to using its own community outreach work to help Britain’s 30 million gardeners make a positive contribution towards the climate and biodiversity crisis.
“But we can’t harness this potential alone. If we are to mobilise the biggest gardening army across the nation since Dig for Victory we need
government support for planetfriendly gardens. This includes funding all research and development in horticultural science.”
RHS director of science and collections, Professor Alistair Griffiths, added: “Our nation’s 30 million gardeners can create positive change and help us adapt to and mitigate against the climate and biodiversity crisis.”
The 10 actions gardeners can take to tackle climate change and nature loss are:
Plant a tree in your community, school, workplace or garden to draw carbon out of the air.
Pledge to switch from mains to rainwater for watering the garden.
Go peat free to protect peatland habitats which store carbon, provide homes for nature and reduce flood risk.
Make your own compost to save carbon.
Pull up a paving slab and grow perennial plants such as grass, shrubs or trees to maturity to suck in carbon from the air.
Put in plants for pollinators, to help slow and reverse declines in bees, butterflies, moths, hoverflies and other insects.
Grow your own bunch of flowers, as growing or buying Uk-grown cut flowers can save carbon compared to buying imported bunches.
Electrify your garden, so you are using electric powered gardening tools, not ones run on fossil fuels.
Help map UK garden plant biodiversity by adding your garden plants to RHS My Garden online to help the RHS conserve this important biodiversity.
Eat more home-grown, UK, local and seasonal fruit and vegetables.