John Yeoman's Comments

Hello, are you THAT John Yeoman, of 'Gardening Secrets that Time Forgot'? Sarah

Aha! A friend bought it for me and it has been read and re-read - marvellous!

Hi John
Have just been reading todays tip from the Guild (thank you) and just thought I'd say that whilst it seems like a good idea to collect veg waste from restaurants etc, DEFRA have a lot to say on this. For once it is not over the top bureaucratise gone mad, but a reaction to Foot and Mouth. Movement of food waste is restricted and the problem with collecting veg waste from places is that some helpful charlie will pop their ham sandwich in thinking its ok, which its not! Where we are a food waste collection service has just started as part of the recycling round and it gets taken to a 'Rocket' in-vessel composting system. Also I've just got permission from the local animal health dept of DEFRA to take veg waste from home to allotment. I know most people are cheerfully unaware of these regs but having run a Farmers' Market through Foot and Mouth, I am quite happy to stick to the rules on this one!

As long as the veg waste has no contact whatsoever with animal products in theory it should be ok, but if you consider that the reason why it is currently not allowed to take veg peelings from home to the allotment is because it is so hard to avoid all risk of contamination - i.e. meat stored in fridge with veg, cutting board used for meat and not washed properly - it seems excessive but I guess the logistics of saying 'ok you lot can do that, but restaurants must do this' was too nightmarish. The problem is that nobody knows about it - I only found out because I set up a Compost doctor project and was looking into community composting for blocks of flats, streets with small gardens etc.
The Council here subsidises Green Johanna compost bins, which can take meat, fish, dairy etc and are rat proof, so you can compost all that at home, just wrap it in scrap paper and add a layer of garden waste on top. Best, Sarah

What is your book on garden history called? Doing a WEA course at kelmarsh hall on garden history as hoping to do level 3 RHS exam in July, one section is on garden history. Anything that might help me remember something useful would be so very welcome!

Hope you have a great birthday tomorrow! I am still enjoying Garden Secrets.