plants

In this series. Next Level Gardening will show you how to find free compost, free mulch, free vegetable seeds, how to make raised beds for free, how to make your own fertilizer, companion planting and much more.

Meet Robbie Blackhall-Miles, whose Welsh garden has an early evolutionary vibe. He explains why he’s passionate about plants with fossil records that predate the extinction of the dinosaurs
The post How does my garden grow? Cretaceous-ly appeared first on Positive News.

From planting native wildflowers to leading mini-beast safaris, 5 projects that help people give nature a boost 
The post The birds and the bees: 5 projects that help us all boost biodiversity appeared first on Positive News.

An aerial shot shows the contrast between forest and agricultural landscapes near Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil. (Flickr/Kate Evans)
Experts at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew have just published their second ever State of the World’s Plants report. They reveal there are 390,000 known species of plants, with over 30,000 being used by humans. Unfortunately, the report also says that 1 in 5 plant species are in danger of extinction.

From ‘tuned in’ spiders to signal-sending plants, nature has its very own advanced intelligence networks
The post Fascinating facts: the intelligence of nature appeared first on Positive News.

The largest peach grower in Missouri has filed a lawsuit against Monsanto alleging that the biotech giant is responsible for illegal herbicide use that is believed to have caused widespread crop damage in southeast Missouri and neighboring states. [1]
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

It appears that voters in Sonoma County, California, have banned genetically modified organisms (GMOs) by a margin of 56-44%, unofficial results show. In 2005, Sonoma County voters shot down a similar measure by 5%. The ban reflects changing attitudes about the biotech industry, and its impact on the environment and human health. [1]
Source: SocialMediaFeed.me
Sonoma joins five other California counties that have already passed GMO bans: Mendocino, Marin, Trinity, Humboldt, and Santa Cruz.

As of September 30, in a first for the United States, 7 species of yellow-faced bees native to Hawaii are under the protection of the Endangered Species Act. [1]
The precious pollinators were added to the endangered species list by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service after years of study by the Xerces Society, state government officials. Independent researchers concluded that the insects are under threat.
The rule is effective October 31.

Monsanto announced last week that it licensed the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing tool from the Broad Institute in Boston for use in seed development. The technology will allow the agritech giant to edit crops’ DNA by “snipping” away undesirable traits – or adding in more desirable ones – of the plants’ genetic codes. Frankenfood? [1]
Source: Business Insider

A new study at the University of Cambridge has found that certain viruses that affect plants can actually help the plants attract more bees for pollination. In turn, the plant yields more seeds, making the virus helpful for evolutionary growth and the continuation of the plant’s survival.