Mobilise the Earth 22 April 2012
April is the month of Easter, Earth Day and well, rain… It’s been raining here since Good Friday, which I shouldn’t be complaining about really if we take into account the hose pipe ban announced in the South East on April 5th, 2012. This ban may well last into summer and autumn, so the more raindrops into our water butts, the better. So every morning when I open the curtains and see the grey skies and drizzling outside, I repeat the mantra – it’s good for the garden.
Not so good from the school holidays point of view though, not many places one would want to go in the rain, or maybe I am not adventurous enough?
So as the weeds keep getting taller in the garden, chitted potatoes are waiting to be planted, I seem to be spending (or should I say “wasting”?) my time watching TV, eating chocolate Easter eggs, reading and daydreaming.
With Easter now over, we are looking to the next big day in April – Earth Day. It is celebrated on April 22 and was started in the United States in 1970 by Senator Gaylord Nelson to create awareness for the Earth’s environment and to encourage conservation efforts. In 1990, Earth Day was taken international, and today, more than 500 million people in 175 countries observe Earth Day. Typical ways of observing Earth Day include planting trees, picking up roadside trash, conducting various programs for recycling and conservation, using recyclable containers for snacks and lunches. Some people are encouraged to sign petitions to governments, calling for stronger or immediate action to stop global warming and to reverse environmental destruction.
Our input into this celebration on the day will most probably be planting some sweet peas and sowing a few more carrots and beetroots. And maybe potatoes will finally go in to where they belong at this time of the year, as they most definitely need to be in there before the end of the month if we want a plate of delicious new potatoes with butter and dill sometime in August!