MEMBERS MEET PIPPA

The West Sussex Green Club welcomed Pippa Greenwood to Shoots Garden Centre in Washington for our first members event on 7th June 2007.

Over 60 members were entertained, enthralled and educated as Pippa described a host of things to make gardening a more organic experience. Amongst tips on netting protection, compost and what bugs to introduce to your garden to keep it free of pests, was the recounting of an interesting experiement to see what beer was the most effective in making a slug "beer trap". Having tested various ales, lagers and stouts (including a non-alcohol beer), the concenus was that slugs were suckers for Dublin's finest black stuff! Interestingly, there was little appear for the non-alcohol beer!!

Several members brought along bags of various sick looking foliage and were pleased that Pippa was able to describe the ailments casuing the problems.

Pippa was also full of praise for the Green Club; "I think this is a great initiative by West Sussex County Council and shows the level of committment that they are willing to make to promote sustainability in the home. I wish the club every success"

Pippa Greenwood trained as a botanist at Durham University (BSc hons) and then gained an MSc in Crop Protection at Reading University. In 1985 she joined the staff of The Royal Horticultural Society at their garden in Wisley, Surrey, where she ran their garden advice desk – answering several thousand written/telephone queries from gardeners.

Pippa started working at the BBC in 1988. Initially appearing she appeared on Reflections of Gold, transmitted during the Chelsea Flower Show week. She has also presented items on plant pests and disease problems on Gardeners' World.

Pippa is a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4s Gardeners Question Time and in 2000 presented a series called Growing Science along with her own mini series of radio programmes called Pippa's Pests she has now embarked on her own series Top Soil With Pippa Greenwood, a live weekend programme for BBC Radio Solent.

Pippa has also guested on a number of television and radio programmes including This Morning, GMTV, Call my Bluff, Grass Roots, You and Yours and Womans Hour. Pippa also writes for the BBC Gardeners World magazine.