The Green Rangers

Me and two members of Towering Infernos in the greenhouse. Photo by Zanda.

London Met's gardening club is back and ready for green fingered staff and students to help grow those greens! I've been counting down the months, waiting for the danger of frost to end to start planting. Pictured above is the very spacious greenhouse on the roof of London Met, the new home of my two budding butternut squash plants.

Here's to another year of lots of uni-grown produce!

For tips on growing your fruit, veg and herbs, check out the Royal Horticultural Society website!

The University's Costa (Blue Met) now collects coffee grounds for anyone who needs a hit of nitrogen for their compost. I made use of this service and requested a bag to take home - all 14kg of it! It'll do wonders for the veg I'll be growing in March!

Composting reduces the amount of food waste that ends up at the landfill, giving your soil the nutrients and microorganisms it craves. You'll see a huge difference compost makes to your plants - and even better - it's completely free!

Organic (Green) materials such as fruit and vegetable scraps, crushed egg shells and coffee grounds increases the amount of nitrogen in your compost, and brown materials such as leaves, paper and hay increases the amount of carbon. You should aim for a balance of green and brown materials. More tips on what and how to compost can be found on the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) website.

Check with your local council to see if they offer subsidies for compost bins for home composting.

Above: Image of the compost bin in my garden

If you want to grab yourself a bag of coffee grounds, email catering@londonmet.ac.uk.

Kara

I’m not much of a bird person - in fact I have a fear of pigeons. But I do love little birds and the odd magpie (because of the nursery rhyme). This year I’ll be taking part in the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch 2017. Last year, two little robins were frequent visitors to the garden, and I’m hoping to see more this year!

If you want to take part and receive a free pack (which includes a 2017 calendar) then register on the RSPB website. It also meets the gold criteria (G013) in Green Impact workbook.

Happy bird watching!

Kara

The university has multiple battery recycling points and it didn’t take long for us to find one and do our part in saving the environment.

We’re now committed to using rechargeable batteries both at work and at home, as well as spreading the work that batteries shouldn’t be disposed of in general waste.
You can usually find a battery recycle point at your local library or large supermarkets. Check your local council website to find the nearest battery recycling point near you.

Kara