Amateur Gardening – 10 July 2019

6 JULY 2019AMATEUR GARDENING 7

Lavender fair: Award-winning community project Carshalton Lavender celebrates its 20th harvest fair this

month. The project in the London borough of Sutton opens its doors on 27-28 July for visitors to pick

lavender, buy lavender products made on site and enjoy aromatherapy and reflexology treatments. You

can find the event at Stanley Road allotment site, SM5 4NQ. See carshaltonlavender.org for full details

THERE are many secateurs
available to buy – but not all of them are
created equal. Felco has long been the
purveyor of high-quality gardening tools
and its latest release, the Felco 14 secateurs,
continues this tradition.
The cutters are lightweight yet
robust, easy to use and have the
trademark Felco red handle, which
means they won’t get lost if dropped
in the garden or misplaced on an
untidy shed shelf.
The cutting action is smooth and
powerful, and the shock-absorbing
design offers considerable protection
from strain.
The handles have a lifetime guarantee,
and there is also a convenient leather holster
that can easily be clipped onto a belt or the
opening of a trouser pocket.

Felco 14 secateurs

An additional accessory is

the Felco Diamond Sharpener,

a flat, easy-to-handle tool that

keeps blades keen by being gently

stroked along their length.

The Felco 14 secateurs cost £56.99 and

the 903 sharpening tool costs £24.99. Both

are available from worldoffelco.co.uk.

THE gates may be open to the widespread
use of outlawed carcinogenic pesticides
once the UK leaves Europe, according to a
new report.
Analysis by the UK Trade Policy
Observatory warns that the formality of
transferring EU powers into national law
post-Brexit could usher in a wave of toxic
horticultural and agricultural chemicals
that have been shown to alter human
reproductive, neurological and
immune systems.
The study by researchers at the University
of Sussex and a Masters student at the Centre
for Alternative Technology alongside Pesticide
Action Network has uncovered a significant
weakening of enforcement arrangements
covering the approval of pesticides as part
of legislative changes carried out under the
EU Withdrawal Act.
They include the removal of a blanket ban
on Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs),

‘Outlawed’ chemicals may return post-Brexit

potentially allowing for their use on UK

land despite considerable evidence that

the chemicals, which affect how the body

responds to sex hormones such as oestrogen,

raise the risk of some cancers, birth defects

and other developmental disorders.

Checks may be ‘cast aside’

Dr Emily Lydgate, Senior Lecturer in

Environmental Law at the University of

Sussex and Fellow of the UK Trade Policy

Observatory, said: “While the stated aims of

the EU Withdrawal Act was to bring existing

EU pesticide regulations into UK law without

major changes to policy, our analysis reveals

that there are significant departures from

EU pesticides legislation.

“The new legislation consolidates

powers to UK ministers to amend, revoke

and make pesticide legislation, and weakens

both enforcement arrangements and the

requirement to obtain scientific advice.”

Researchers warn that the EU system of

significant checks and balances is being cast

aside for a new regulatory process placing too

much power into the hands of UK ministers

and away from independent scientific

advisors. Academics fear that the commitment

to scientific evidence will be ‘significantly

watered down’, with UK ministers only

required to consider scientific evidence

at their discretion.

Ffion Thomas of the Centre for Alternative

Technology said: “These changes to pesticide

regulation in the UK can hardly be

characterised as ‘technical’; they will weaken

the rigour of the process by which pesticides

are approved and monitored in the UK.”

RHS Botanical

Illustrations:

The Gold Medal

Winners

By Charlotte Brooks

(ACC Art Books,

256 pages, £30)

YOU occasionally find a

nugget of gold among all

the tat riding on the coat

tails of the Chelsea Flower

Show, and this book is

one such treasure.

Charlotte Brooks,

curator at the RHS Lindley

Library, has compiled a

selection of illustrations

of recent RHS medal

winners. It is a book to

pore over repeatedly,

not just for the beauty of

the plants but also the

astounding talents of

the artists involved.

Each illustration

commands a full page

accompanied by a

biography of the artist.

The book opens with an

essay about the formation

of the RHS and its artistic

connections.

It is almost impossible

to pick a favourite picture,

but I love Jean Emmons’

irises and Annie Hughes’

cactus that is

so lifelike it

almost left

my fingers

bleeding

all over

the page!

BOOK

REVIEW

A ban on cancer-causing insecticides and

herbicides may be lifted after we leave the EU

The Felco 14 secateurs are

light and easy to use

AMATEUR GARDENING 7

Product

review

Iris by Jean Emmons

the Felco Diamond Sharpener,

a flat, easy-to-handle tool that

keeps blades keen by being gently

The handy

clip-on

holster