Hello and welcome to The Compost Bin. I'm Compostwoman and I live with my family in rural Herefordshire. We have nearly four acres of garden and woodland, all managed organically and to Permaculture principles, which we share with Chickens, Cats and assorted wildlife. We also grow a lot of our own food, run courses in all sorts of things and make a lot of compost!

I am a Master Composter and have spent more than a decade as a volunteer Community Compost adviser with Garden Organic and my local Council.
I'm a self employed Environmental Educator so I run workshops and events where I talk about compost, veg growing, chicken keeping, cooking, preserving and sustainable living. I also run crafts workshops and Forest School/outdoor play sessions in our wood.

We try to live a more self sufficient lifestyle here, as best we can, while still having a comfortable life and lots of fun.


To learn more about us click on the About Compostwoman tab and remember to click on the photos to make them full size!


Showing posts with label Ecover UK. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ecover UK. Show all posts

Monday, 16 December 2013

An unexpected gift from Ecover UK

 I got an unexpected padded envelope in the post today. When I opened it



This was inside!

And when I untied the ribbon, look what I found!




Special Christmas washing up liquid :) 





Thank you Lauren at Ecover UK for my lovely festive smelling washing up liquid and the lovely card. The washing up liquid smells delicious - like a Christmas Grotto full of cake :).

Friday, 12 July 2013

Hampton Court Flower Show part 3

 RHS Hampton Court part 1

 RHS Hampton Court images




 If you want to know what plants were used in The Ecover Garden, here is a full list. After we visited the Ecover Garden we moved on to look at the Ecover Bee and some of the Ecover planters


This is "The Bee" an amazing sculpture made from recycled materials and Ecover plastic bottles. It was really quite spectacular!

 
 





 Ecover sponsored 16 planters which have been designed by eight gardening celebrities.


 This is Adam Frost's "Bee friendly planter" which was smothered in bees and other insects, so it obviously worked!



Lots of watering was going on, even at one o'clock - I think a lot of plants would have just died in the heat without a lot of " topping up" of watering during the day. 

Maria and I spent four hours at RHS Hampton Court and it was very hot indeed on Monday ( and has continued so all this week)  and I must admit after a couple of hours looking around and walking around we got to the point where we were hiding in every available patch of shade and drinking lots of water.

We took some food with us but also purchased a sandwich - and this was a pleasant surprise because the food outlets were "RHS" branded and all were the same price and not very expensive, for what they were. I bought a rather nice tomato and herb bread roll with salad and lemon mayo roll for me and a roasted veg and mozzarella version for Maria. We sat by the very large water feature, in the shade of a rather fine tree and ate our packed lunch. Fortunately we had both brought lots of water with us - and we needed it as it got hotter and hotter during the afternoon.

We carried on looking around and discussing what we thought the judges would make of the gardens, and after lunch we began to see award signs popping up on the gardens. Maria and I were spot on with our awards for virtually every garden <smug grin>

 


Best Summer Garden was A Cool Garden, I tried to get a decent photo but the camera boom was always in the way!



This is A Room with a View which won Gold - here is Monty Don getting ready to film a piece to camera for one of the THREE (!) Gardeners World specials which were on BBC TV this week.



 This is Spirits of the Land, designed by Mariko Naka, which I thought was simply beautiful. It won Silver ( I thought it should have been Gold, personally)

 

Apart from The Ecover Garden, my favourite was Athanasia, designed by Weald Design, which won Gold in the Show Garden category. This was billed as " ... a place for reflection, rest and a celebration of the beauty of nature. It is a serene garden that offers a moment of tranquillity, as well as hope for the future."
 

 I loved the wooden block seating and the planting was ( yet again) in the "cottage style" which I love. The fact there were lots of geraniums on display probably helps my view.


"Ashes to Ashes" a bit strange looking but the dark coloured planting looked spectacular in the sunshine - this also won Gold.


 We also looked at the Flyte of Fancy chicken house decoration competition


I liked this one best decorated by Philippa Forrester


I also really loved this beautiful Buff Orpington cockerel



By about 3.30 Maria and I had had enough - we were just too hot and tired and sun baked to stay any longer and also aware that we still had a more than four hour journey home. So we headed for the exit, pausing only to take a closer look at the very first garden we saw on our way into the Show.

Desolation to Regeneration  the very first garden we saw when we arrived, also won Gold and Best Conceptual Garden.

I really liked this, the nearest end of this garden had accompanying sounds of a forest fire and the most amazing planting of "hot" coloured plants,  then as you walk through the garden you come across charred sculptures and a lot of very new, green planting conveying what one might see after a forest fire. It was stunning.


So, we trekked across the burning desert for hours and hours walked back on the wide path in the blazing sunshine past Hampton Court Palace to the railway station and caught the train to Waterloo, then the Tube to Paddington and managed to catch the 1722 train home. I got back in to Compost Mansions at 8.30 and had a cool shower!

A fabulous day, thank you so much to Ecover UK for the tickets and thanks to all the fabulous designers and gardeners who made it all happen.

I have not discussed all that we saw yet, and there was so much more we did not see but I hope you have got a flavour of the event.  If you want to see the complete list of all the gardens you can find them on the RHS website here

Tuesday, 9 July 2013

RHS Hampton Court Flower Show 1 - a hot day and a Gold medal winning garden

Yesterday at an unearthly hour of the morning I set off to Hampton Court, squinting in the unaccustomed sunshine. 

Our train journey took a shade over 4 hours with various changes but all went smoothly



and by 11am we were walking over the bridge from the Hampton Court railway station


pausing on the bridge to admire  to admire the Royal Palace in the distance as we walked along the River Thames


 

and to admire it some more as we walked past it. 

We arrived at the Show at about 11.30 am. When we got inside the RHS show ground we entered the Inspire zone and were immediately greeted by merry Ecover elves handing out free samples and showing off their electric car. Then we were straight (literally) into the first of the Conceptual Gardens.



I will write about the gardens in more detail in another post but let us just say this first garden set a very high standard for the others to follow!

I went on Press Day, so of course a lot of designers were being interviewed, standing by their creations.

 

and there were lots of TV crews and photographers wandering around filming and taking photos.

I had an appointment at noon at The Ecover Garden so we went straight there and were so impressed by what we saw. The planting scheme was so vibrant and had a cottage garden, insect attracting feel to it whilst also managing to be very fresh and modern looking.


 


Movement and colour of water is represented by the planting scheme.

 My appointment was for a one-to-one chat with the designer of The Ecover Garden, Matthew Childs. I was so excited to be talking to him, especially as he recognised my name from our Tweet exchanges

Discussing the inspiration for the garden


Ecover bottle handle two way bench, highlighting the recycled and plant based plastics used by Ecover for their products.

Blue plastic strips are made from recycled plastic and linking in the Ecover logo to the garden



According to Matthew, the planting mainly echoed the colours of the Ecover brand, blue, vibrant lime green and white, which also were the blues, greens and whites of moving water. This was the theme of the garden "Water is Life".




However there were also "coastal cliffs" of earthy coloured lime plaster walls and blue recycled plastic sculptures.




Matthew is using sustainable materials such as recycled plastic, lime render and mulched beds to reduce water loss. Also the garden is packed with an abundance of flowers that are particularly bee friendly - as we all know how important they are for us to thrive.



There was a  a beautiful moving water feature with streams of water cascading down  from the Toilet Cleaner fountain into a series of pools. In the background is the Bottle Top lamp (yes it lights up at night, apparently)



The garden appeared astonishingly well established, especially the lichen covered trees which  looked as if they had been there forever with the garden designed around them. ( the site was actually totally flat before the build up started)

Matthew said that he  wanted people to be talking and thinking about the use of recycled plastic in the garden. He also wanted them to be inspired to think about sustainable materials and appreciate the brands and manufacturers who use them.

My enjoyable discussion finally came to an end, as The Countess of Wessex wanted to talk to Matthew about his wonderful garden.


so I said thank you and goodbye.



Not surprisingly the RHS judges awarded Gold and Best in Show to The Ecover Garden

Well deserved in my opinion, I honestly thought it was the best garden I saw at the Show.


More about the Show tomorrow!

Monday, 8 July 2013

Today, hopefully I will be

 


Looking at a lot of these




And visiting somewhere with quite a lot of these (but not with my name on :-) )

Think of me today while I visit RHS Hampton Court Flower show  :)

Sunday, 7 July 2013

Message on my bottle


The first parcel which arrived yesterday was a very special bottle of washing up liquid from Ecover UK :-) Can you see why it is special?






Thank you Lauren from Ecover HQ, I have used a bit already and it smells lovely :-)


As you may remember, I am off to Hampton Court Flower Show sometime this week, thanks to some tickets given to me by Ecover UK. I can't wait to see The Ecover Garden and meet designer Matthew Childs :-) I have spent a very hot couple of hours online today making sure I have all the trains worked out; yesterday we went over to Malvern and I gave my friend Maria her tickets just in case we get separated - I don't want for her to not be able to get on the train!


I am a bit concerned about the heat we are expecting this week  - travelling for 4 hours each way on trains and underground in this heat is not something I am looking forward to, but it is such an adventure to be going somewhere so exciting that I am sure I will manage :-)


Monday, 1 July 2013

And the winner is...

Ok,  the Hampton Court tickets/Ecover giveaway is now officially closed. Many thanks to Ecover UK for offering the tickets and a Gardeners Pack as prizes.

This morning I wrote down on a slip of paper each name from the list of those who entered, folded it and put each one inside a (clean!) compost caddy.



  I then shut my eyes and, with Compostman there as a witness :-) drew out the first slip of paper


 Then the next and finally the runner up.

So ( cue drum roll...) the winner of the first pair of tickets to RHS Hampton Court Flower Show is...














 The winner of the second pair of tickets to RHS Hampton Court Flower Show is...

 


and the runner up, who will get a goody pack of Ecover products is...















Congratulations! And commiserations to those of you who did not win.

If PixieMum, Sarah and Julie you could all email me (compostwoman@the-compostbin.com) with your real life names I can then forward your email on to Ecover UK HQ and they will sort out the tickets or the parcel of goodies.

And when you go, make sure you visit The Ecover Garden and look around the Inspire Zone :-)


Thank you all so much for joining in and sorry to those who were not successful this time. But keep your eyes on The Compost Bin as I may well have more goodies to give away in the future :-)

Friday, 21 June 2013

Giveaway! RHS Hampton Court Flower show tickets/Ecover Garden Pack




As I said yesterday I am very excited to be going to the fantastic RHS Hampton Court Flower Show in July, thanks to Ecover UK giving me two tickets.

I can't wait to look around the Inspire Zone and see The Ecover Garden, as well as the inspirational Ecover planters that have been designed by eight gardening celebrities.

I also can't wait to see all the other wonderful show gardens and displays. I am so looking forward to going, especially as I am taking my one of my best friends with me so we should have a wonderful day out. AND I am going to meet up with some other gardening bloggers when I get there :-)

Thank you so much Ecover UK :-)

So, I'm going to go and have a great time, would you like to go to RHS Hampton Court Flower Show, the world’s largest flower show, as well? And take a friend? Yes?


Well, two of you could.

 
I have two pairs of tickets to RHS Hampton Court Flower Show to give away, thanks to my lovely friends at Ecover UK, who are sponsoring the Inspire Zone at the show.  Each pair of tickets are for any one chosen day between 9th-14th July.  

The RHS Hampton Court Flower Show is on from 9th-14th July and you can find out where it is and more about it here 

And for a third person  as a runner up prize, an Ecover Gardening Pack





You can’t buy a ‘Garden Pack’ from Ecover, they are selling it as an exclusive at Hampton Court. It contains  Heavy Duty Hand Cleaner, Washing Up Liquid and Compost Bags


Its lovely - I know because I have got one ;-)

To enter the Giveaway there a few things you need to do.



You must leave a comment on this post AND it would be really nice if you also "followed" ( if you are not already a follower) The Compost Bin - please use the Google Friend Connect wigit on the RHS) 


Do this before midnight on 30th June please.
 
You must "follow" ( if you are not already a follower) The Compost Bin (please use the Google Friend Connect wigit on the RHS)   and leave a comment on this post. 


On July 1st I will draw three names out of my compost caddy wearing a blindfold. Or ask Compostgirl to do it!

I will announce the winners on the blog and on The Compost Bin Facebook Page.

Terms and Conditions for the Giveaway - please read!
 

  • To enter, you must leave a comment on this post
  • Only one entry per person
  • Entries close at midnight on 30 June 2013.
  • You must live in the UK and be over 18 years of age.
  • The ticket winners will need to email me before midnight July 2nd to say which day they’d like to go to the Show, so I can pass their details and chosen show day on to lovely Lauren at Ecover. The tickets will be waiting for them at Hampton Court for collection on the day.
  • The runner up prize winner needs to email me their address, so I can pass on their details to Lauren at Ecover to send out the Gardening Pack to them.
  • The ticket winners are responsible for getting to and from Hampton Court under their own steam and at their own expense.

  • No cash alternative is available.
  •  Ecover UK is the promoter of the competition.
  • The information you provide  will only be shared with Ecover in order to send you your prize. 


So, follow me ( if you are not already a follower) and leave a comment to be in with a chance to win.

And good luck! 




(I have altered this today 25/06/13 as I can't tell if you have done this if you are a Google+ member  and it got too confusing)

Thursday, 20 June 2013

RHS Hampton Court Flower Show here I come :-)


I'm so excited that thanks to Ecover UK I am going to the fantastic RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show this year :-)

It's the biggest flower show in the world! Fortunately for me for 2013 the Show has introduced themed zones to create different moods for visitors to enjoy. The new zones are Inspire, Grow and Escape. They have been planned to help visitors navigate their way more easily through the diverse and exciting range of exhibits. So hopefully I will be able to find my way around fairly easily.

Ecover UK are sponsoring the Inspire Zone which contains show gardens & trade stands. There are 8 Conceptual Gardens – designed to challenge design concepts, many with a sustainable theme. There are 4 Low Cost, High Impact Gardens – gardens designed on a budget of £7k, £10k, £13K and £15k. And there are Show and Summer Gardens – new trends in outdoor living, plus lots of other things for me to look at.

Award winning designer Matthew Childs is back at Hampton Court ( after winning gold last year) taking on the challenge of the show garden for Ecover. I am intrigued by his ideas and the design drawings I have seen; the main theme of the garden is ‘Water is Life’, highlighting the minimal impact Ecover products have on aquatic life, as well as the continuous effort Ecover makes in making a healthy and sustainable lifestyle an easy option. 



Can you spot the Ecover product shapes?

I can't wait to have a good look around the Inspire Zone and see Matthew's Ecover Garden, as well as the inspirational Ecover planters that have been designed by eight gardening celebrities. The planters will be on display throughout the Inspire Zone and will be donated to community-based projects after the show. I am particularly looking forward to seeing the Jekka McVicar and the Anne-Marie Powell planters.

I also can't wait to see The Bee, an amazing sculpture, opposite The Ecover Garden, made out of scrap materials and Ecover Plant-astic bottles. This giant bee and some stunning flowers, made by artist Ptolemy, has been designed to spread the word about the Ecover Message in our Bottle campaign. This very exciting art installation will be premiering at Glastonbury Festival and complementing the garden at Hampton Court, also.

I'm not going to Glastonbury Festival (shame) so I am really pleased I will still get a chance to see what The Bee looks like and how it is made :-) Ecover also have some good information on their web site about helping bees, with advice from Matthew Childs on planting and info from Buglife.

I also can't wait to see all the other wonderful show gardens and displays in the Inspire Zone. I am really looking forward to visiting the Escape Zone and seeing the Celebrity Henhouses ( I will not be bidding for one - honest!) and the Butterfly Dome, and in the Grow Zone looking at the plants ( and maybe buying some if I can carry them home?)

I am so looking forward to going to this event, especially as I had to miss the last event Ecover invited me to. I have been given two tickets so I am taking one of my best friends with me. We will have a long day as we are travelling by train (and water bus at the end!) but we should have a wonderful day out. Thank you so much Ecover UK :-)

I'm so excited!

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