ROSE RAMBLER 14.1.2016

Calculating the Value of Organics
(including biodynamics, of course –ed)“A team of international scientists has shown that assigning a dollar value to the benefits nature provides agriculture improves the bottom line for farmers while protecting the environment.  The study confirms that organic farming systems do a better job of capitalizing on nature’s services than do conventional farming systems.

‘By accounting for ecosystem services in agricultural systems and getting people to support the products from these systems around the world, we move stewardship of lands in a more sustainable direction, protecting future generations’, said Washington State University soil scientist John Reganold.

Earthworms turning the soil, bees pollinating crops, plants pulling nitrogen out of the air into the soil and insects preying on pests like aphids – these are a few of nature’s services that benefit people but aren’t often factored into the price we pay at the grocery store. The research team quantified the economic value of two ecosystem services – biological control of pests and the release of nitrogen from soil organic matter into plant-accessible forms – in 10 organic and 10 conventional fields on New Zealand grain farms.

The values of the two ecosystem services were greater for the organic systems, averaging $146 per acre each year compared to $64 per acre each year for their conventional counterparts.

The combined economic value, including the market value of the crops and the non-market value of the two ecosystem services, was also higher in the organic systems, averaging $1165 per acre each year compared with $826 per acre each year in conventional fields.  The study showed that the value of the two ecosystem services on the organic farms exceeded the combined cost of traditional pesticide and fertilizer inputs on the conventional farms”.

HEAVEN SCENT
Large, orchid pink blooms with split outer petals on long single stems that have few thorns on the flowering stem.  Lush, healthy mid-green foliage – beautiful!

MOTHER’S LOVE
Palest pink blooms gently deeper pink towards the centre.  Abundant blooming with dark glossy foliage, medium-tall spreading shrub – stunning!

BEST FRIEND
Vibrant blooms of deep, hot pink this tall grower was named by the RSPCA to honour the unconditional special friendship that comes from loving your pet!  Every single bloom deserves to be vased for the pleasure of fragrance in your home!

Dear Diana,

About this time last year, I wrote asking if you had any tips for deterring possums from eating the buds on my climbing roses.  At that stage, I was tying bags of naphthalene to the climbing frame, as well as smearing Vicks Vaporub liberally along the branches.  That worked, but it was unsightly, so this year I am trying something different, so far with success.  I pruned the roses to a lower point and am allowing new canes to grow outwards, away from the trellis and therefore away from the possums.  All the climbers are blooming and the canes are a manageable length if I keep dead-heading and cutting back just a bit more than in previous years.  The big test was the recent very hot day with strong winds, and all survived.

The possums don’t touch my standard or bush roses, and obviously don’t feel sufficiently stable to climb out on the flowering canes of the climbers, whereas anything tied to the trellis is fair game.