The report sets out how the livestock industry is responding to the challenge of reducing its greenhouse gas footprint.

The Grasslands Trust, which has previously highlighted the important role that semi-natural grasslands play as a carbon sink, welcomed EBLEX’s recognition that carbon storage in grassland soils needs to be factored in to any calculations of the carbon footprint of the livestock sector.

Miles King, director of conservation at The Grasslands Trust said “there is increasing evidence of the critical role that grassland soils play in storing carbon. Restoring agricultural grassland to a wildlife-rich state can lead to it storing over three tonnes of extra carbon per hectare per year and this accumulation is on a par with most types of woodland carbon storage.

"It’s ridiculous to calculate the carbon footprint of meat without including the carbon stored in the soils and this skews the results in favour of intensive systems.”

Semi-natural grasslands can store up to 130 tonnes of carbon per hectare, far more than improved grasslands. The change in land use from improved to unimproved grassland is not included in the current PAS 2050 methodology for measuring the carbon footprint of products.

The Grasslands Trust has submitted a funding bid to DECC to develop a system that funds farmers to increase the carbon stored in their grasslands. Miles King explained “there is really obvious win-win with grasslands – by restoring their biodiversity, this also massively increases the amount of carbon stored in them. Grasslands across England are the second largest carbon store after peatlands – and we could store so much more by tweaking their management. We’re still waiting to hear back from DECC about the proposal.”

The Grasslands Trust have recently published an in depth report, Nature’s Tapestry, which examines the importance of wildlife-rich grasslands as an ecosystem service.

This is the warning from garden designer Andy Sturgeon after he revealed that judges at the world's most famous flower show gave out a gold gong to a garden that didn't deserve it.

Apparently a suitably experienced judge wasn't on hand and, in Sturgeon's words, "the tried and tested judging process partially failed".

Writing on his blog, Sturgeon says that Cancer Research UK have pulled out after nine years after it was revealed they would have won a gold if it were not for the failure of the judging.

Sturgeon calls the new point scoring system for 2012 a 'knee jerk reaction', following several complaints.

The one-time owner of Aberaeron’s aquarium and commercial shell fisherman, also offering boat trips to see the dolphins, sold up five years ago and began looking for woodland with the potential to develop into a forestry business.

The search ended 18 months later when he bought Esgair forest, a 245 hectare estate – 200 hectares being commercial woodland – nestled between two Welsh government woodlands near Pantperthog, three miles north of Machynlleth.

“With fossil fuels becoming increasingly expensive and finite in the long term, and with the adverse impacts of CO2 emissions and climate change, I believe sustainable forestry, timber and woodfuel production has a good future.

“We wanted to build a new business which could sustain our children after we’ve gone,” said Peter, whose wife, Sarah, was also involved in the tourism industry for 32 years as the previous owner of the town’s seafront restaurant, The Hive on the Quay, but is now working at Esgair.

“The forest was in a pretty poor state when I bought it four years ago, but I could see the potential. I see this as a good business opportunity.”

The Welsh Assembly government helped Peter get started with aid through the Harvesting and Marketing Grant scheme, enabling him to put in a new access road to the forest, build a sawmill and install production equipment and basic facilities such as water and a telephone line.

A grant from the Forestry Commission Wales Better Woodlands for Wales (BWW) scheme is helping him to return the woodland to proper management, and he has already turned the estate into the UK’s first organic forest.

“Esgair has a sustainable crop of about 2,000 tons a year in total and there will be no waste at all – in fact, we do take other local people’s slab wood waste,” said Peter, who was a timber haulier for the Forestry Commission way back in the 1970s.

“We are building a sustainable business and only sell to customers within a 40-mile radius, so that we reduce traffic on the roads, cut down on the unnecessary transport of round timber over long distances and keep the money circulating locally.”

The Esgair Timber Company sells quality timber products, from large beams for the construction industry, to its own graded timber products, G30 grade wood chips, dry logs and briquettes to heat business premises and people’s homes.

“We tend to work in the oversize market, up to 900mm diameter logs 9.5 metres long, and most of our products are bespoke orders,” said Peter, who still lives in Aberaeron.

“The smaller diameter material goes into firewood with other waste from the sawmill and tree harvesting being seasoned, chipped and sold as woodfuel. But, whatever we do, the emphasis is always on producing top quality material.”

At the heart of the business is a massive, 50 metre long by 20 metre clear span timber sawmill building, built from mature trees grown within 100 metres of the site, where all the homegrown timber is processed.

There are also plans to build a combined heat and power (CHP) plant, which will provide lighting and heating for the business using chips from its own waste timber, naturally.

Peter Jones, Forestry Commission Wales Woodland Officer in the Grants and Regulation team, said, “Peter is determined to build a truly sustainable business that will be a lasting legacy for his children, and serve the local area with sustainable timber and fuel products.

“The local focus of his business and using wood for energy in place of fossil fuels will help to tackle climate change by reducing CO2 emissions, and we’re delighted the BWW grant will help him to realise his goals.”

Already, Esgair provides employment for three people, with the prospect of more jobs when the business is up to full production this year.

“I’m normally there myself every day, as well. If I wasn’t doing this, I’d be bored,” said Peter Bottoms.

“It’s fascinating to see what the real possibilities are with such a sustainable, versatile material as wood.”

The BWW grant scheme has now closed to new applications and has been replaced by a new woodland management grant under Glastir, the Welsh Government’s new sustainable land management scheme.

What can do this, according to Richard Miers, garden designer, is added structure and water and enjoying the resulting interplay of light and the reflections and sounds from the water.

"Structure is important because winter is a long period of time," Richard said.

"So when the herbaceous flowers have died down, the earthworks, hedges, topiary, walls, avenues and ponds take over, meaning there is still something to look at."

In other words a garden must pull us out into it from every window or view.

"The low level of the sun creates fantastic shadows that are constantly changing and draw you out into your garden however cold it may be," Richard said.

By applying an artistic eye and using vernacular materials and plants rather than exotics, Richard's approach makes the garden appear to belong to its location, drawing upon a framework of symmetry and proportion. The results are beautiful and have a traditional bent.

"Symmetry just feels right to me but I’m not a slave to it either, it depends on the house and the site. But most of nature is symmetrical and we as humans find the most symmetrical faces the most beautiful, and with proportion and scale it is important to get it right," Richard said.

In plant and form it is a classic sense of beauty, developed over fourteen years of design experience, drawing upon some aspects of the Baroque era, but also influenced by the landscape architects Jacques Wirtz and sons, and the historical formations of Lady Salisbury.

His gardens are not so much lined with bitter orange trees of the Baroque but camellias of Cambridgeshire. Yet he is known for the use of ribbon hedges, something of a hallmark rather than a trademark Richard said.

As an experienced designer he can break the design rules when needed.

"The ribbon hedging is not always symmetrical and can be a great design devise to make awkwardly shaped sites work. I also love using water with its reflective qualities bringing light onto the ground and the various different sounds it can make," he said.

Likewise he prefers to feel his way, applying an artistic eye rather than 'number crunching Greek formulae'.

"My influences are far and wide and designs can spring from seemingly random items, the pattern on a plate, or a rug but generally just looking at and observing the world around me."

This is his innate preference and not from training, the artist developing what is inside. It was Picasso who said that 'art is not the application of a canon of beauty but what the instinct and the brain can conceive beyond any canon'.

After years of designing, a sense of proportion is then a sixth sense.

"I’ve been designing for so long now I forget how I learned to get the proportions right but trial and error on the drawing board is pretty good and when I design in 3D on the computer I’ll try a number of variations until I’m happy with the result," said Richard.

But it was not always like this. So how did he establish his practice and find a footing? In fact it all began in sports science.

"After a few years of managing a health club I realised that I was working long, antisocial hours and that my heart wasn’t really in it. I was still young enough and without too many financial responsibilities to take the chance to try to do what I really wanted to do."

So he decided, like the Tin Man, to have a change of heart.

"Basically find our what you love to do and follow that path," Richard said. "Clients love enthusiasm and loving what you do makes you enthusiastic."

He continues, referring to Steve Jobs, of Apple, speaking of the role of a career and what it needs to mean. In a world where ones work will fill a large part of life it is necessary to love it and never settle until your heart knows you have found it in other words.

So if you are wanting to break into garden design make sure that you truly love it. There are ways to go about it, live within your means while still employed so that you can save for the best course you can afford or maybe work part-time. Living within budget was formerly the route to happiness in Dickensian times and now in this economic climate, comes truly back into fashion.

"Try to live within your means and save. Do the course you can afford, I went to Merrist Wood because it was a proper horticultural college but also allowed me the time between lectures and course work to work part time in a garden centre/nursery to keep some funds coming in and increase my knowledge base at the same time," Richard said.

For him then, work became a happy marriage, as did crossing paths with a great designer, Arne Maynard, to start a collaboration that lasted seven years.

"The meeting came about through sheer luck, a chance encounter and then making the most of that luck. We worked well together straight off as our design ethos was very similar," Richard said.

From it he learned, for one thing, about the gradation and sensitivity of having layers that lead into the house.

"As well as learning the ins and out of running a small business, it did help me understand the hierarchy between the wider landscape, the house and the new garden being designed. That’s why my gardens are most intensive around the house, drawing you out into the garden and then gradually leading you seamlessly into the wider landscape."

The influences of association of working together, can be intense. Richard admits that it has taken him some years to be able to use plants that Arne did not like, such as a camellia or Rhododendron.

Yet, he highly recommends assisting a designer with whom you have an affinity and initiating it as necessary.

"Writing to designers whose work you admire gets people jobs too. All design is a collaboration, firstly with the client and then with the client and the contractor when on site. To make sure it runs smoothly work hard, communicate and follow up," Richard said.

This then is either a permanent role that can lead to many years of enjoyable employment or it can be a bridge to when you break away to establish your own business.

Early on, Richard was at RHS Chelsea 2000, building the Garden's Illustrated 'Evolution' a collaboration between Arne Maynard and Piet Oudolf, the garden won both a Gold and the Best in Show.

While Piet of the popular Dutch New Wave movement took a lot of the credit, Richard said that it was a major stepping stone for Arne and catapulted him into a different league.

Later in 2005, Richard went on to set up his own practice Richard Miers garden design and was chosen as garden designer for the House and Garden Fair at Olympia in 2007 with good reviews for reviews the scent garden.

Then, on to many achievements, recently in March 2011 Richard featured in Clare Foster's guide in House and Gardens as a leading designer of the day.

In the future, garden designers may be using other plants adapted to warmer temperatures yet some themes remain constant. Given his experience Richard can extract a nugget of advice that persists.

"Learn what you like and don’t like, and have the confidence to express your opinions as that's what clients will be paying you for. So learn the rules of design and then you’ll know when to break them and when not to," Richard said.

After all, designed landscapes are better for their variety and their unpredictability that the changing seasons and climates bring.

There's often no one to talk to about the the financial and physical pressures of juggling money, weather, staff and clients.

Even if you have staff to talk to or maybe a trusted manager, there's no way that you can always share the very private feelings and thoughts that may be eating away inside.

Because Landscape Juice operates in the internet cloud, you don't have to leave work early to get in a car, spend money on fuel and sit next to someone you don't know, you can participate in our sessions from the comfort of your own home, for free.

So, help is at hand if you log in to the Landscape Juice Network live chat session next Wednesday o1 February at 8.00pm.

If you run a business, no matter what its size, you can talk openly to other business owners about your fears, concerns and ambitions.

No longer carry the burden.

See previous live chats here

Together for Short Lives is the only charity working across the UK to help ensure that every child and young person unlikely to reach adulthood and their family has the best possible care and support whenever and wherever they need it.

The charity was given a boost in 2011 when it was chosen as the beneficiary of The X Factor charity single, ‘Wishing on a Star’, which reached number one in the official UK top 40 chart.

Neil Davidson, CSR Manager for Marshalls plc said:
“The great thing about this particular charity is that it gives Marshalls an opportunity to fundraise and engage on a local as well as national level. As a major plc we have sites across the country – from Sittingbourne to Fallkirk – so we want to ensure that whilst the business is raising funds, local sites are building lasting partnerships with local children’s hospices and other care providers.

"This way, we can offer grass roots support at the same time as throwing our weight behind this extremely worthwhile charity and helping to support young people with life-threatening illnesses.”

Marshalls staff are aiming to raise funds for the charity through a variety of activities throughout the year such as dress down days, car washes and staff donations.
Staff across all sites will also be encouraged to donate their time through activities such as garden clearing and building. In 2011, Marshalls staff raised over £8,000 for men’s health charities by participating in Movember and also broke records for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance by amassing the largest volume of shoes and textiles ever donated to them by a single company.

Eleanor Brady, Corporate Fundraising Manager for Together for Short Lives commented:
“Together for Short Lives are thrilled to have been chosen as Marshalls’ Charity of the Year. We are really looking forward to working with everyone over the next year and together making a real difference to the lives of seriously ill children and their families across the UK”.

Website: Together for Short Lives
Website: Marshalls

The organisers, John, Gary and Rowly, were joined by Sally, Tanya and Craig talking to staff members and trustees about their day-today work helping disabled people teaching them the techniques and practical applications so that they may take part and enjoy gardening.

A research programme underpins Thrive’s work to provide evidence and improve understanding.

Thrive's work has helped individuals accomplish many things. Thrive says: "Gardening can help rebuild a person’s strength after an accident or illness, and can provide a purposeful activity for someone coping with a difficult period in their life."

LJN members raise £1,421.00 through a day of The Many Faces of Fu Man Pugh.

It is essential to our industry that close scrutiny is kept on all who lay claim to shape our respective futures, if non-members don't stand up and be counted then there's a danger, not too far down the road and whether they like it or not, they will have to comply with legislation that doesn't suit them or their business.

In my view:

It is essential that trade associations who operate a self-regulated vetting scheme should operate a blind trust so its executive officers should not be allowed to trade commercially whilst in office.

No executive should benefit from any business opportunities, however they may arise, whilst they they are elected to represent the interest of their members.

It is a conflict of interest for any executive officer to preside over official business whilst there is the potential that they, or their respective companies or associates, might benefit from opportunities that may arise whilst they are in a position where they may determine policy or be involved in any decision that may determine a potential member's future within the association.

In addition, any elected officer who makes decisions which may affect its membership or organisation directly, must declare any material interest, in public, for the sake of openness and transparency.

Any organisation which campaigns in the name of its members but whose endeavours may have a material affect on industry practitioners, who are not affiliated to its private membership, should publish its manifesto in public.

Any lead that may come through an associations' website, via telephone, direct mail or email, must, in my view, be declared to its entire membership so that a democratic system of allocation may take place.

At no time should an executive, either acting alone or in concert with an executive colleague, be able to make a business decision unless its membership is advised, equally, of the details surrounding any enquiry.

It was a tremendous effort by everyone involved to get the show to fruition.

I still cannot quite believe that in three short years, the Landscape Juice Network has grown from a kitchen table to national trade show and launched in the middle of the worst recession any of us have ever known. I am extremely proud of this achievement.

You don't need me to tell you that these are still extremely difficult trading times and 2012 is regarded by many financial analysts as potentially the toughest year so far and it will stretch some companies to the limit.

I have spent the time since the show thinking, talking to my team, partners and stakeholders about the potential for another show this year.

Despite having the support of over 50% of last year's exhibitors - plus several new ones who visited last year - and full support of Marshalls, I have decided not to hold a Creating Landscapes in 2012.

I had confidence in our abilities to make a bigger, better, stronger show but as a one-man-band, my personal financial liability was just too great should anything have gone wrong.

I have a number of firms interested in smaller, more intimate regional events; I'll keep you posted.

For now, I will continue my day-to-day work helping SMEs find a voice in our industry.

Terry Ellacott has joined the team as Sales Executive.

Editor David Curtis said: "Terry has a strong background in marketing, client management, trade show and conference organisation as well as every aspect of digital promotion."

“I’m delighted to be joining The Landscaper. I have always been fascinated by the industry as I appreciate how it impacts on all of our lives.

The magazines succinct no-nonsense editorial approach and forward marketing plans offer massive potential,” says Terry

Tesco, Britain's largest retailer this morning reported like-for-like UK sales dropped by 2.3% over the festive period.

The results for the six weeks to 07 January 2012 came in significantly below expectations and disappointed markets with 14% wiped from Tesco's market cap.

It's the biggest one day fall in Tesco stock since 1988: Tesco has lost nearly one quarter of its market cap this year.

Sainsbury and William Morrison both dropped sharply on the news.

Other major retailers have also reported sharp trading declines. Argos down 8.8% in the last quarter; Homebase down 2.6%; Mothercare down 3%; Thorntons down 4.2%; Halfords 4.8%.

Tesco is known for its quality and that is the main reason it's stayed ahead of the pack UK mega-grocers for so long. Even in times of recession - everyone needs food - companies like Tesco are able to maintain market share.

Company results are always a lagging indicator of what's really happening in the market and what's particularly troubling about the timing of the Tesco demise.

Many people were hoping that the UK was heading out of the recessional tunnel into a year of business recovery.

However today's news from Tesco is a sharp reminder that the consumer is spending less or at least looking for a bargain.

Whatever your view on whether we are at the end or still deep in recession one cannot ignore this potent consumer data.

When you consider that everything there is to read is also available somewhere else - Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Landscape Juice, Hort Week, blogs - for free, one wonders who will want to subscribe? At £4.00, let's face it, it's not cheap.

Looking closely at the Pro Landscaper business model, I have to say I am confused. Launched as a free magazine its aim was to address the needs, they said, of the landscape industry.

With a printed magazine going to print every month (although November and December were doubled up for some reason) what are the costs?

With five employees there's a conservative £8,000 a month just in salaries.

That equates to a cost, assuming their distribution is 5,380 as they say it is, of £1.48 an issue. Add on postage and distribution, set-up and printing and marketing costs and you are looking at a considerable financial monthly overhead.

Now, Pro Landscaper have launched a network, this conflict of interest will become an issue for them - it will be tougher to make the revenues needed to become profitable on the print side when the network is giving away tools, information and publicity for free? Readers don't need to pay and advertiser can upload publicity for free too.

It just doesn't make sense!

If they feel they can make in excess of £8,000 a month from the network then good luck to them.

There's no doubt the magazine is produced well and with its thick glossy pages will appeal to those who still prefer to feel paper between their fingers but I'm yet to be convinced that in today's digital rich media landscape, that print can cut the kind of numbers they'd hoped.

I wish them luck.

OK, maybe in the eyes of the law it's not the same offence to steal words from a publication as it is to steal someone's bike - although others might not always agree: I'm not an expert on copyright infringement so I won't pretend - have a read of this article and and form your own view on the definition of copyright infringement.

However, it is still an offence to take words of another person from a website or paper publication without their permission.

Garden designer Colin Elliot today reported on Landscape Juice that he'd had text taken from his website by www.gardeningexpress.co.uk.

“Just Imagine... A garden bursting with life - a celebration of your home and a credit to your neighbourhood.

A place of glorious calm after a hard days' work, secluded from the trials of everyday life.

A spacious, sunny enclosure for fun and recreation with family and friends.
An outdoor room affording space in the fresh air for when you'd rather be outside than in.

A garden can be all these things and more. Simply point us in the right direction and we'll make it happen.”

This screenshot of the gardening express website clearly shows the exact same text.

Colin tells me that he first used this text on his brochures in 1999.

During the recession as people invest more in their communities the garden centres are ideally placed to provide materials for projects, so says the Horticultural Trades Association, Retail strategy action plan suggesting that centres can be community hubs.

But to be sure of hearing all the best ideas to boost garden centre businesses go along to the GCA's conference . The two days begin with a review of performance during 2011, with presentations for the Dick Allen Award, Worrall Cup, Barton Grange Trophy, Best People Award, GIMA Excellence in Garden Product Retailing Award and the Outdoor Living Award.

The conference speakers include:

Jim Gardiner the RHS Director of Horticulture
GCA E-learning initiative
Mario Dolcezza – Managing Director of Diciamo
Clare Rayner - Founder and Managing Director of Retail Acumen
Boyd Douglas-Davies and Steve Hallam from LOFA
Ian Boardman GCA Assessor
Dr David Hessayon author of expert gardening guides.
Scott Seaborn,head of mobile technologies at Ogilvy Group UK
Andrew McMillan, principal consultant at Charteris PLC
Geoff Harding, Bank of England
Motivational speaker Michael Heppell of Flip It fame
Bob Sherman, chief horticultural officer Garden Organic
Wayne Hemingway of Hemingway design

While garden centres developed from plant nurseries around the 1960s within the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) they were then able to offer some standards and quality controls. Only a decade later it became today's Garden Centre Association, in independent group that now has over 200 UK members.

In the amount of time it takes you to read this page, roughly 382 Android phones will be activated; more than 250,000 words will be written on Blogger; and 48 hours of video will be uploaded to YouTube.

The world is moving fast – faster than ever before – and we are all along for the ride. Technologies are getting quicker, affording us instant access and split-second connections. As Moore’s law prophesied, this change is happening at an exponential rate.

The above is taken from Google's Think Quarterly.

OK Google may be talking about technological change from a technologist's point of view; after all, it's their job to provide the tools that enables traditional businesses to trade, seamlessly and effortlessly, via the web.

I'd hazard a guess that many of you will be reading this from a hand-held device somewhere away from your office and desktop or laptop PC? Indeed I know from my site stats that nearly 10% of my traffic is via mobile devices.

It's clear that if you can read content from any location then you can chase business, follow up on enquiries, order services and materials or talk (that's what old fashioned mobiles were for;) to suppliers and customers.

For many in the business world things are moving at too fast a pace for their creeky infrastructures to cope.

It's all very well us all joining up to every social platform going, or write a blog, to publicise our brand but the real challenge comes when we are asked to deliver on our promise.

For example, a tree or plant supplier can easily generate internet traffic and convert these potentials or real sales by selling their products by the use of photos and fluffy marketing.

What happens next is the bottleneck. How do these suppliers, who now have to revert to a semi-automated or totally manual process, keep up with servicing its supply chain efficiently.

The key is to raise the value of the product or service being supplied and invest in more efficient systems.

You may well ask how one raised the value of a perceived low value item, let's say a potted pansy for example, when the nursery down the road can see the same breed of pansy at the same price, or less?

The first rule is an open and honest strategy showing the way the product is produced. Videos and photos of the product, the production staff and evidence of the care and the qualities or the materials that go into the production of that plant will help bond a potential client with what you are selling.

If a client can see what they are getting and know that you are willing to guarantee its quality then they'll pay a premium. Giving you the opportunity to invest in your processes.

your future processes don't have to be automated either. Just because you're investing in the latest technology doesn't mean that manual labour should go out of the window.

How do you cope when converting technological success into sales out of the door?

Image: It's the Google Doodle for today recognising the birthday of geologist Nicolas Steno who would have been 374th birthday.