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HOLDEN CLOUGH NURSERY
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
Green Tourism Business Scheme Silver Award
Our aim is to produce plants for sale in an environmentally friendly way as is economically possible without impacting upon the quality of the finished plant. This is achieved by the following actions: |
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Potting Composts
We have reduced the use of peat by 50% and replaced with composted bark. A bark topdressing is given to all container plants in order to suppress weed and liverwort growth without resorting to chemicals.
Waste Materials
All waste compost and plant material is composted and used for soil addition in open ground stock when cultivating. We must have the largest compost heap in Lancashire!
Fertilizers
We use a mixture of both organic and inorganic fertilizers plus slow release fertilizers in all potting composts to reduce excess leaching into the environment.
Growing Containers
Whilst at times we do need to use newly manufactured flower pots and containers we welcome receipt of used pots and containers from customers for sterilizing on-site and re-use so as they are not deposited in landfill sites. We sterilize all used containers with Jet 5 which is a totally safe sterilant.
Timber
All timber used on the nursery is from certified sustainable sources and in our English cold frame lights being gradually replaced each year the old glass is re-used after cleaning. Path edgings are from timber cut on the nursery.
Energy
In the nursery bungalow much of the hot water is obtained from the use of solar panels fitted by an established reputable company. Please contact us for details. We are also gradually converting to low energy light bulbs.
Chemicals
Due to the proximity of bee hives we use very few insecticides other that Suscon Green and Vi-nil, both non toxic chemicals for soil incorporation against Vine Weevil. These materials are totally safe when broken down in the soil. Aphid control is by Chess which is non-poisonous and our weed control is based upon Glyphosphate on open ground beds and pathways which again is totally biodegradable.
Customer Advice Service
In my part-time work as a broadcaster on BBC Radio Lancashire gardening programmes and lecturer at Lancashire County Council’s Alston Hall College and elsewhere, I advocate natural biological control using wildlife and insects and only very limited use of chemicals for specific problems rather than overall treatment.
Packaging and Delivery
Other than for some export orders where new packaging is specifically requested, we use all recycled materials for our mail order despatch and delivery of plants to customers. Our nursery vehicle is fitted with the latest CDI diesel injection engine which is economical and is regularly serviced.
Wildlife on the Nursery
As the nursery borders onto both a river and stream the area abounds in wildlife of all sorts including many birds from wrens, song thrush to pheasant, frogs and toads, shrews, dragonflies, ladybirds and lacewings as well as ground beetles and centipedes plus of course our infamous midgies which make ideal food for summer visiting birds and bats.
Plants to Encourage Wildlife
We grow and stock a number of plants that encourage birds and insects to your garden from nectar rich flowering plants for butterflies to winter-berrying shrubs for our feathered friends. Please ask our advice for choice of suitable plants.
Garden Talks and Lectures
We present a number of titles to various social groups, and recycling plus encouragement of wildlife into your garden is always of paramount importance in these talks.
July 2007
Green Tourism Business Scheme
At the start of 2007 we signed up together with several other businesses in the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) to take part in a Sustainable Tourism Initiative. During the year we have had several group meetings at members’ venues, received presentations on environmental themes and been encouraged through workshops to co-operate between our businesses with joint initiatives, purchasing locally, cross referencing on websites, etc.
We are now very pleased to announce that we have been granted a Silver Award, one of 17 awards made on 15th November by His Grace The Duke of Westminster at Abbeystead near Lancaster. The scheme is being run under the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas and of course we are very privileged in the fact that the Forest of Bowland AONB is indeed the first place to be granted in 2005 the Europarc Federation status in Great Britain, now joined by Exmoor and the Norfolk Broads.
For more details of the Green Tourism Business Scheme and how to apply for membership for your business visit www.green-business.co.uk
Sustainable Tourism Visitor code
Holden Clough Nursery Ltd.,
Holden, Bolton-by-Bowland, Clitheroe, Lancashire, BB7 4PF
Telephone: 01200 447615 Facsimile: 01200 447197
E-mail: info@holdencloughnursery.com
© Holden Clough Nursery Ltd. 2007
all pictures © Holden Clough Nursery Ltd. 2007
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