RHS Publications - March 2011

RHS Publications – The Garden

My next journey on my horticultural escapades took me to the lovely city of Peterborough to see where the RHS magazine, The Garden is produced.  The Garden is the monthly publication to its members (and occasionally on news stands) which aims to be the leading publication on promoting horticulture and gardening.  The RHS has published a journal since 1866 and since 1975 it has been titled The Garden.

It had been quite a busy period; Germany one week, working at RHS Wisley and now journeying up to Peterborough for a couple of days.  Brilliant opportunities and networking, but I must admit it does get a bit tiring.  However, I was thoroughly looking forward to seeing how the magazine was put together.

I arrived to Peterborough bright and early and went into the office.  There I was greeted by Chris Young, Editor of The Garden, and a thoroughly nice chap.

We proceeded to sit down and discuss the process of how the magazine is produced each month and the aims and objectives of the publication.

The team are faced with the task of satisfying the audience members, as well as targeting new members.  The typical reader of The Garden is middle/ upper class woman in their 50’s, quite well-off and mainly based in the South East of England.  This is why Chris explained to me why the font is written in softer shades of colour, and often in italics as these are more effeminate attributes.

Chris is faced with a dilemma with each issue and the odds are always against the team.  He must appeal to the main audience but for example, he cannot dismiss the needs of a young male, interested in gardening who lives in a tower block in London.  There has to be something for everyone.

In addition to this, Chris explained the reasons behind The Garden being re-designed last September.  This was to make the magazine more readable.  This is because our reading habits have changed in recent years thanks to the internet, more visual images, smart phones and easier-to-digest broken down texts.  The Garden took on these aspects in order to encourage people to read to the end of the article(s).

The Garden achieved by re-designing the layout on the page, hanging columns.  There are also ‘slugs’ at the end of the text.  This a term used to describe the green text on the articles that suggest to the reader about finding out more information eg. RHS Wisley.  Moreover, this subtly helps to promote the RHS without it being shamelessly branded to the reader.

On a different note, The Garden itself is not essentially a membership attraction.  This is instead a job of the marketing team based at Vincent Square, London.  However, The Garden is a retainer tool, keeping people as RHS Subscription members.

If for some reason someone is considering leaving the RHS membership, then it is The Garden arriving to their door each month, looking attractive, readable, informative and inspiring that will change a persons mind as they will hopefully feel a strong connection to the horticultural world.

It is essentially understanding the typography of text and psychology of people that makes a magazine sell.

In addition to The Garden, RHS Publications produces quarterly journals of The Plantsman and The Orchid Review.

The Plantsman has been published since 1979 and is a more academic-based publication aimed at a very niche market and produced by one man.  The Orchid Review is the oldest publication by the RHS and has been around for 180 years.  It is similar to The Plantsman with a scientific perspective produced by one woman, with an audience of 900, most being international.

During my time with RHS Publications, the team were very receptive to me and gave me a lot of their time.  This gave me an insight into just how much goes into each issue.  There is a lot of work to do, tedious tweaking and lots and lots of reading.  Each article is read about 14 times before it goes to press just to make sure it is the closest thing to perfect.

The RHS is continuing to grow.  This is thanks to the marketing of horticulture, appealing to a wider audience and getting people involved.  In addition to RHS subscriptions continuing to grow, RHS Publications are playing a crucial role by retaining these members, listening to their feedback, being at the forefront of the latest news in horticulture and above all inspiring people to get involved with horticulture and gardening.

Finally, a big thank you to Chris and the team for having me.  The pleasure was all mine.  Keep up the good work!

Are you Arb enough?

Another Monday morning was upon me.  Unlike most Mondays, I was particularly excited about this one as I was spending the day with the Arboriculture team down at RHS, Wisley.

For anyone who is involved in the industry, RHS Wisley is a real gem and a place of great horticultural excellence, so for an opportunity to spend time there was a great privilege. 

I arrived to a predominantly empty car park at 07:15.  The trouble with Wisley is that it resides just off the M25, so in order to avoid the apocalyptic congestion, it is best to get there early.

I had arranged to meet at 09:30, so I had two hours to kill.  I never realised that there were so many public bridleways surrounding the area so I took it upon myself to go for a walk, which ended up turning into a bit of a hike.

It was a glorious morning.  The crisp, glistening frost gleamed from the morning sun.  The air felt fresh and pure, revitalising the body, the birds ecstatically singing their little hearts out.  It felt wonderful to be alive.

I would truly recommend to anyone visiting Wisley to go divert and go for a little adventure.

The time was rapidly approaching 09:30 so I had to hastily make my way back.  I met with Nick Bell, who is head of the Arboriculture team.  Nick came across as a very knowledgable arborist and made me feel part of the team right from the start.

Before commencing work, I had to go through the tedium of health and safety and risk assessments.  Arboriculture can be a dangerous game, so it is of the upmost importance to follow the procedures set for Arboriculture.

Once this was completed, we could then go out and do some work.  Nick and I met with the team and joined them at Battleston Hill where three Alders had been felled.  This was performed in order to create more light for the ground so that some of the plants and shrubs have an increased chance of establishing themselves.

The trees were required to be chopped up for logging, collected together and then taken to the yard to be used for firewood.

It is important to not rush arboriculture work as this is when accidents happen.  For the sake of trying to finish a job half an hour earlier, it could cost you tomorrow.  Therefore, the Alder task took up most of the day.

However, once the task was completed, it was time to get to the workshop and clean and sharpened the chainsaws ready for tomorrow’s work.  It was a day of putting my CS30 Cross-cutting and Chainsaw Maintenance certificate in to practice, and I loved it.

The day soon come to an end, but it was fantastic and Nick would like me to come back each month, an important contact made there.

Working with trees can indeed be a tough game, you need to be hard-working, highly skilled, physically fit, have a beard and about 2L of testosterone a day.  However, after all the back-breaking work, you step back and realise it is an honour to be involved with the management and maintenance of these gentle, majestic giants of the Earth.

A Tree-mendous Adventure - Day 4

Alas, my final day was upon me.  I must confess that initially, feeling tired and isolated, I could not wait to return to my comfort zone in England.  However, as the week progressed, and I began to interact with my fellow colleagues, I began to really enjoy it.

I believe one factor for this is the transition from London life to a rural existence.  Within London, it is all go, rushing around, no time for anyone. However, when you escape the hectic bubble of London, you quickly realise that life does not need to be that manic, and this just slow down a bit.

It is difficult to adjust to a normal way of life after living in London, but I soon did in rural Hamburg as the week progressed.  I took a deep inhalation followed by a relaxing exhalation and enjoyed the fresh country air, and it felt very liberating indeed. 

It really does make me wonder why so many people choose to live their lives so hectically, but for some people they may not have that choice.

On a different note, for my final day I was put on the delivery/ despatchment team.  The morning’s work consisted of placing two semi-mature Acer platinoides on the lorry for delivery.  The trees had previously been lifted, bagged, tied and ready in the yard.  Again, this required heavy machinery to lift the trees and place onto the lorry.  We used a lot of coffee bean sacks in order to wrap around the tree bark in order minimise damage.

Once placed in the lorry, the trees are then secured with a ratchet strap.  These are brilliant as they achieve a level of stability and security that no man could achieve.  Simple physics.

The trees are then secured and going nowhere.  The lorry is ready to go off to its destination and provide the client with a specimen in the exact condition that it left the nursery.

After tea break, we then had an additional lorry to load.  This was much different to the previous as there were lots of varying sizes and a much bigger order.  The lorry had trees for three clients.  There were about a hundred trees and you think to yourself ‘How on Earth is all that going to fit?’  The key is preparation and taking your time.

It took the team and I three hours to load the lorry.  Once carefully packed, ratchet straps were used to tighten the lorry load.

Then it was time for lunch.  At the beginning of the week I was sitting on my own in the canteen, the lonely Englander!  Now, I found myself sitting at the table with a group of lads, with us all trying to communicate with broken English/ German.  I felt grateful for everyone being so accommodating and including me in the conversation.

The final afternoon was upon me.  The sun was out for the first time after a cold and windy week.  A suitable way to finish the week. 

The task for the afternoon was to tie poles in the semi-mature trees in the growing fields in order to encourage straight growth.  After this it was time to set up the irrigation systems again.  We are now at the back end of winter and when spring commences, the growth will extenuate the fields, buds will break, showering the nursery in a vast array of fresh, lush green and a variety of enigmatic flowers.

 All of this is an energy-intensive process and watering will be heavily required.  The irrigation systems had been covered for the winter in order to protect the pipes from cracking in the frost.

When the sun shines, and the air is fresh, it creates a nostalgic mood, summer is peaking its head around the corner.  Longer and warmer nights will soon be upon us.

The day had finally drawn to an end and it was time to say goodbye and be on my way.  Not before I expressed my gratitude to the team for having me.

Uwe, the taxi driver who initially escorted me there was to take me back to the airport.  We stopped off at the local gas station (the first shop I had seen all week!) and picked up some German beers to take home.  I gave one to Uwe to say thank you (although I must stress the fact that he did not drink this while driving!)

On the way to the airport, I was treated to a taxi tour of Hamburg as it was my first opportunity to see the city all week.  From what I witnessed, it looks like a great city, full of history, with a contemporary feel to it.  This is one place I will definitely be coming back to visit.

I said my goodbyes to Uwe and proceeded to make my way back to England.  The first thing I did when I got back home was to have a cup of tea.  It was the first one all week and it had never tasted so good!  A little bit of Britishness that will always be a part of me.

Throughout the week, I learned a great deal, and not just about trees.  It was a great experience, going out to a different country and having to try and get along with people where there is a slight communication breakdown.  It is all character building. 

It was fantastic to get away and see something different.  I had heard so much about Von Ehrens, so to be there and see it for real was something very special.  The scale of the operation and the efficiency of the work is something the UK could learn a great deal from.  We have a long way to go if we want to compete.

So to anyone who is involved with trees, forestry and arboriculture, we all share with Von Ehrens the same common interest;

Wir lieben Bäume.

A Tree-mendous Adventure - Day 3

On site at 06:45.  Germany is one hour ahead of UK time so I cannot help but think it is 05:45 back home and no one is up.  At Von Ehrens, people are starting to recognise my face so it is not as daunting, but the language barrier does present a problem.

I must say, thank you for football.  Personally, I am not the biggest football fan in the world; overpaid players who kick a ball for a living – and I am on site at 06:45, that is not a real job!  However, that is another story.

The beautiful thing about football is that no matter where you are in the world, it is a way of communicating with about 90% of men from all walks of life.  Now, I am from Stockport, Greater Manchester, but for arguments sake it is easier to say to people that I am from Manchester , in which people instantly think of Manchester United.  So, I basically pretended I was a Manchester United fan just to get along.  To say to people that I was actually a Stockport County fan would only complicate matters, although I presume people would understand what I would mean saying ‘Stockport County’ when it is followed by ‘nicht so gut’.

On a different note, the task for the morning was getting 500 semi-mature trees ready for delivery.  The trees were already bagged and netted.  All that was required was taking the labels off the trees and making sure that the trees had stem protection.

After this, the machines would do the work, lifting the trees onto the lorry ready for delivery.

Once the order was completed, we then proceeded to spend an hour cleaning and tidying the yard where we had been working.  This is such an important thing to do as it puts things away in their correct place, eliminates hazards and is a safe environment to work in.  If the working environment is pleasant to be in, then the productivity of the work can only be improved.

For the afternoon, I was moved onto tree pruning.  At Von Ehrens, it is a high-scale operation involving a machine which a person stands in with secateurs, and the machine moves up and down so that you can get to all parts of the tree to shape it accordingly.

The afternoon was spent pruning Quercus roba, which was in a semi-mature state and has been in the ground for some time, experiencing a hard prune each year.  There are two approaches towards attitudes of pruning;

As a person who is fascinated by the beauty of trees, there is a part of me that cannot help but think that this is a slightly cruel practise to keep pruning these trees so hard in order to achieve a desired shape.  To me, it is the human equivalent of a model starving themselves in order to be thin and achieve a certain body shape.  It is not natural and it is essentially manipulating nature as you prevent the tree from taking on a natural shape.

On the other hand, people have been coppicing and pollarding trees for centuries.  This does give a certain character to the trees and some of our oldest trees are pollarded/ coppiced trees.  Additionally, pruning does increase the longevity of the tree.  Furthermore, trees do need to be pruned to be managed and maintained for health and safety and protecting the public in parks and streets.  So there are different attitudes towards pruning and there is a fine line between essential pruning and pruning for human appeasement.

The day, it was very interesting and varied and again opened my eyes to the scale of the nursery is huge and is seriously big business.

Pictures soon to follow.

A Tree-mendous Adventure - Day 2

After crashing out at 9pm, I felt recharged and refreshed ready to do a full day’s work.  I arrived on site at 06:45, ready to begin work at 07:00.  There is no time to waste in Germany, this is one reason why the whole operation is so efficient, absolutely no time wasting!

I was then put with a team ready to do a day of tree lifting.  Once I established my position in the team, we got a good system going.  The machine that collects the tree from the ground is a monster.  It is essentially four pneumatic shovels put together which closes around the tree and buries itself into the soil like a knife through butter.  It closes around the tree roots and lifts it out in one whole scoop.  If a human was to try this then they would not get very far. 

Once lifted from the ground, the tree is then taken over to the netting and wire which will encase the root ball, thus protecting it from any damage during transportation.  The wire is then tightened round the root ball using a drill with a hook drill-piece which tightens the whole thing.

After this, the tree is then gently lowered to the ground where the crown can be tied together with rope, thus eliminating any damage during transportation once more.

Moreover, the machine will then pick up the tree(s) and it is ready to be distributed all over the world, depending where that may be.  A great majority of Von Ehrens’ clients are from the UK.

This process was repeated all day and in all we managed to bag up 40 mature trees.  Slow and steady really does win the race in this instance, as trying to complete the task quickly results in damage to the trees.  The trees which we were handling are €5000, so it is best to take your time.

After a busy day, the end of the working day was upon us.  This time I managed to find my way back to the hotel with no surprises along the way.  Ready for another day of it tomorrow.

Pictures to follow.

A Tree-mendous Adventure - Day 1

It seems to be a common belief that the impression of England is that we are a nation of gardeners and have a strong association with trees, forests and woodland.  However, all that can now be heavily questioned, as you may discover that it is Germany who is setting the precedent for trees.

Through my internship, I have been fortunate to spend some time out in Hamburg, Germany where the legendary Lorenz Von Ehren tree nursery resides.

On Sunday evening I had my bags packed ready for a taxi to take me to London Bridge Rail Station at 03:30am.  It would have been 3 different bus journeys to London Bridge at that time in the morning, so I opted for the taxi.  From there I had to catch the train to London Gatwick.  It is never easy getting from A to B in London, especially at that time in the morning.  After pretty much all night travelling, I arrived in Hamburg and was escorted by Uwe, the taxi driver to Lorenz Von Ehren site.

It is a strange feeling when you have read about a place or seen photos of a place, and then you finally arrive at the place for real.

I met with Konstanze, one of the Sales Managers who deals with Great Britain (which was a relief, as my German lessons from school is very much undermined by Konstanze's English – or pretty much all of the staff their).  It is an understatement to say that it does make you wish you could be fluent in German.

However, I was driven round the site, and I could not honestly believe the scale and magnitude of  the site.  This is one serious tree operation.  It is basically a tree farm.  There would be one field of Betula Pendula – 20 years, one filed of Acer platinoides – 30 years, a field of Tilia.  Moreover, I do not believe anything comes close to this in the UK.  We have lots to learn and could may well benefit from the German’s work ethic and efficiency.

There are fields and fields of trees planted, as far as the eye can see.

I was then put with a team to work with for the rest of the afternoon.  Polish must be a pre-requisite, and English speaking is pretty much redundant, so as you can imagine, it was a pretty solitary affair.  I had to understand what we were supposed to be doing by watching someone first, and then hopefully comprehend it and get on with it.

That afternoon, we were getting 8 Tilia cordata (about 30 years old and weighing at least 5 tonnes each) ready for a delivery.  The trees had already been lifted in the morning and needed to be tied up and then lifted onto lorries using massive machinery.  It makes lifting the trees look completely effortless.  The whole operation of Von Enrens is completely machinery dependent.

Once, that task was complete, we then went to a field of Quercus roba where we battled with the cold and brutal Hamburg wind and straightened up the oaks that had been blown slanted out of the ground.  A very difficult task to do if low on morale indeed.  I learnt the hard way with this as I had only 3 hours sleep and did not bring enough layers of clothing with me, so I pretty much shivered for the rest of the afternoon.  To top it all at the end of the day, I got lost and could not find the place where I was staying.  After about one hour, running through the woods, and managing to ask a stranger in German where the Hotel Rosengarten is, I managed to get back to the warmth.  Although now I was boiling hot from running around for the last hour.  He who chops the wood warms himself twice…I suppose.

Pictures soon to follow.

Fit to BOST...

In this concrete jungle which we called London, it can be very difficult for everyone to have access to green space.  Furthermore, even when they do have an area of green space, the area can be run-down, degraded and just generally left in a poor space, deterring anyone from spending recreational time there.

This is where BOST (Bankside Open Spaces Trust) comes in.  BOST are a charity based in Southwalk, working with the local community and volunteers to develop local parks and gardens so that residents have the opportunity to have access to functional and practical green spaces.

 For my next placement I was lucky enough to get involved with BOST and spend the day with a community gardening project based in Southwalk.

The time was 07:30 on a Saturday morning, it is a time on a Saturday that should be a myth, very early indeed and not many people experience it.  The weather was dull to begin with, but as the morning progressed, the sun peeked out from the blanket of clouds.  It was the first bit of warm sun that I think we had experienced in a long while; the burning sensation on the neck was an unfamiliar one.  The positive change in weather seemed to represent the change BOST would implement onto the selected green space.

The person running the ship is Helen John – Hej for short.  A great character who’s vision and commitment to helping the local community is an inspiration and is what gives BOST the drive it requires.

The purpose of the days work was to take an average green space of a local housing estate and create raised capillary beds so that the local residents had the opportunity to grow their own vegetables.  These raised beds were no easy task, with massive timber sleepers, tonnes of gravel and mulch, this was one serious operation.

We got to work straight away, clearing and tidying the area ready for the beds to go on. As the morning rolled on, the local residents began gathering to the site, with their excitement and anticipation being the driving force for the project. 

Once the area was prepared, we then laid down the capillary sheet.  The purpose of this capillary sheet was to prevent any toxins or metals coming through the soil and contaminating the pH of the soil in the raised beds.  Personally, I had never worked with this before so it was a learning experience for me.

Once that was down and cut to size, we then laid down the gravel at the base to keep the capillary sheet down and also make the surface level in order for the timber sleepers to lay on.  Adjusting the timber sleepers in order for them to fit, be straight and level was a very tedious process indeed.  After much tweaking we finally got the base of the beds level.  This is very important to get right as if the foundations are not level, then the whole thing will be wrong.  Moreover, once this complete, they are then screwed together using very thick bolts.  Fail to prepare, then prepare to fail. 

No time for tea break this morning as the team were too keen to stop and we worked straight on through.  The next stage was to fill the beds with gravel to 15cm.  After this it is time to put the second layer of sleepers on top of the bottom sleepers so that the beds are nice and high.  Then they are tightened again.  These raised beds are going no where.

We must have prepared six beds in all.  However, the time was 17:30 and we had ran out of time.  Time files when having fun.  Mot of the hard work was done, the only thing left to finish was filling them with soil and getting the seeds and seedlings planted.  This is to be finished another time.

What I found inspiring to see was the community spirit that the project sparked.  The neighbours flocked to the site, some not knowing anyone initially, but conversation flowed and laughter followed and by the end of the day everyone knew each other and it felt like a real team effort.

In London, it is such a densely populated area, with so many people from different backgrounds, but yet it can feel very isolated at times as people are always in a rush and no one has time for one another.  However, on this project, things slowed down and people made the time for one another and it was really great to see everyone working as a team and becoming friends.

As well as creating and developing green spaces for local communities, one of the main objectives of BOST is to get people together and have a collective goal in which the whole neighbourhood can be proud of.  Using green spaces as a way to unite people and create a sense of pride of where they live can only be a positive thing and the work that BOST do is something we can all learn from.