Local People

Green Fingers

Sandy Lippo wants everyone to go plastic-free in their gardens.

Sandy Lippo’s gardening journey began just a few years ago when she was still living in Surrey and working in a company’s accounts department.

‘I had a really well-paid job,’ she explains. ‘But I just hated it. I was fed up sitting behind a desk looking at spreadsheets. I was about to turn 40 and my husband told me he’d had enough of my whinging and I should go do something that I loved.’

Sandy knew that ‘something’ would be outside. Though she quickly had to quash a dream to go into forestry (‘I’m afraid of heights, so climbing up trees was a bit of an issue!’), she eventually found work at a small garden nursery and knew she’d found her passion. Despite her lack of experience, Sandy proved her mettle with graft, enthusiasm and thirst for knowledge. But it was there that she was shocked to discover just how much unnecessary wastage gardening produces.

‘I looked after one of the bedding polytunnels and was responsible for all the deliveries. The plants would arrive in black plastic pots. We’d put them in the soil and then just throw the pots away. They weren’t recyclable and so destined for landfill.

‘At home we’d been conscious about the environment and leading a plastic-free lifestyle for quite some time - swapping out things like laundry detergent.’ When Sandy and her husband, a compliance consultant, made the move to Okehampton just over three years ago (‘We took our first holiday as a couple in Devon and that was it, we were sold!’), she knew that she wanted another gardening job, but COVID and lockdown put pay to that and so she concentrated on her own back yard. As well as having a baby, Noah, who is now eight months old.

However, unable to go to garden centres to source environmentally-friendly products Sandy searched online - to no avail. And so her own website, ‘Good Roots Barn’ was born, selling everything from coir pots to bamboo scoops; growing kits to bird feed.

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Sandy’s Five Top Tips For A Plastic-Free Garden

• Try the alternatives. From growing medium, labels, pots, trays you name it there is an alternative to plastic. The very first time I tried sowing seed in coir, I couldn’t believe the germination rate; and growing in this substrate uses far less water making it a very efficient option.

But Good Roots Barn isn’t just about serving all your plastic-free gardening needs - everything is reusable, compostable or biodegradable - it’s full of ideas and inspiration, with a Sandy’s regular blog and monthly tips.

‘I really want to just make people aware that there are alternatives to plastic out there - some really innovative options. That’s the most important thing. We don’t have a large profit margin simply because we wanted to make everything accessible and affordable. You can’t expect people to buy into a premise if it’s going to cost them more. We gardeners are frugal people - we’re a tough crowd!’

www.goodrootsbarn.co.uk

• Use what you have. Potentially anything can be turned into a planter providing you add drainage holes. I’ve up-cycled old tubs, tin cans and a pair of old boots! All of my planters in the garden are made from up-cycled pallet wood. If something breaks like terracotta pots then I use the remains for crocks and plant markers in the garden. I use toilet roll inners as root runners for sowing legumes because these can be planted directly in the soil and will organically decompose. • Make your own feed. Either grow a plant such as comfrey which is high in potassium or invest in a wormery. As the worms break down the kitchen scraps making compost (another benefit for your garden) they also produce worm tea which is very high in nitrogen making it a perfect concentrate to dilute and feed to your plants. • Adopt old methods. One of my favourite products that we sell is the paper pot press. This method of creating paper pots out of newspaper has been around for a very long time. It has to be the most inexpensive and zero waste way of creating all the pots you will ever need for little to no cost. I also use old hessian sacks to suppress weeds in our beds and as it starts to degrade I can then add it to the compost bin making it again zero waste. ALBERY & REDSTONE • Make your own compost. It really is a simple process. Not only are you providing rich nutrients for your garden but you are also providing food and a home to millions of micro-organisms that are helping to break down Funeral Directorsgarden and food waste to produce “black gold”. And you’re also avoiding Established 1850 plastic bags, which cannot be recycled - and of course peat, which should absolutely be avoided if we are to conserve our natural peatlands and the wildlife that resides there.

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Paw Patrol

Got a naughty puppy or unruly hound? Claire Bircham is your woman.

Claire Bircham has always loved animals. She did a degree in zoology and then a masters in animal behaviour. She actually grew up wanting to be a vet, but turned out to be too squeamish (‘I’m not good with anything gross!’).

Instead, after studying, Claire drifted into a successful commercial career in sales and business development. It was when she had her children that Claire looked for another path. ‘My job had involved a lot of travel, and I didn’t want to do that anymore. I wanted something that I was really interested in, something relevant to my qualifications.’

And so Claire did a diploma in dog psychology and training and the idea of Perfect Pooch Devon came about.

‘I thought I’d just do a couple of sessions - maybe puppy classes - to fill a bit of time and make a little extra money while the kids were at school. Then people started asking me for more one-on-one time to sort out particular behavioural issues, word of mouth spread and everything took off.’

And she’s even been recognised in the industry for her skills, winning Dog Behaviour Specialist of the Year at the South West Prestige Awards, and being a finalist in the Animal Star Awards for Trainer of the Year.

Claire’s techniques are blessedly straightforward. It’s all about communication and consistency. Like not over-using your dog’s name - ‘The dog ends up ignoring it because it’s just white noise, it doesn’t mean anything’. Or failing to reward good behaviour at the right time - ‘Your dog does a “sit” for you, you go to get a biscuit and he stands up again but is still given the biscuit, then you’re inadvertently rewarding the wrong thing.’ Not to mention mistakenly believing your dog understands everything you say - ‘Your body language is what they go on; it is more important than your words. You think your dog is listening to you, but actually he’s just watching.’ Though much of Claire’s work is smoothing out any little problems so that dogs and their owners are set for happy lives together, being in Okehampton with Dartmoor such a popular destination for walks has provided her with a unique speciality: sheep-worrying. Or rather, how to stop your dog doing it.

‘People are often like, “Oh, Barney would never do any harm, he just wants to play!”. Firstly, Barney might frighten the sheep into having a heart attack; or the sheep might end up cornered and stuck in a river. And secondly, how do you know that’s all Barney is going to do? At first he might just chase sheep for fun, but it’s a sort of progression. It’s different with different breeds, but generally speaking, it starts with play in that they’re just chasing, and they’ll do that for a period, then it’ll build up, singling one out and then they sort of skirt around it, not sure what to do now. Until, eventually, the dog does and it attacks. It’s a very strong instinct.’

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Claire has joined forces with local farmer John Cooper to hold regular sessions on his land with his flock. ‘He’s wonderful and really understands

the value in what I’m doing. Though the other week he came across in the middle of a class and asked if we wanted to watch him castrate a lamb!’

Meanwhile, if you’re looking for something even more fun to do with your dog, you could always take part in another of Claire’s offerings: scentwork classes.

‘I use the same methods that they do for professional sniffer dogs who detect everything from drugs to bombs. Though, in our case, it’s more like a dirty sock! Dogs have an incredibly good sense of smell and they love working it - it’s really mentally stimulating. By the end of it, they’re very tired and very happy.’

It won’t surprise you to learn that Claire and her family share their home with a variety of creatures. ‘Though my husband said it was turning into a zoo, so we no longer have snakes, lizards and guinea pigs. We’re down to a tortoise, rabbits and some fish.’

And, of course, a dog: young Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Starla. So, does Claire’s wealth of knowledge and experience mean Starla, is brilliantly behaved?

‘That’s like expecting a decorator’s house to be perfectly-painted,’ she laughs. ‘We were once staying at my in-laws and they blamed Starla for destroying a young sapling in the garden. I genuinely don’t think it was her, but it still gets raised every time we see them: “…and Claire a dog trainer as well…”’

www.perfectpoochdevon.co.uk

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