I'm not much into the concept of monarchy, but I've always had a great deal of respect for Queen Elizabeth. She's probably the last of the truly "regal" British monarchs and England will be culturally poorer when her time comes.

Unlike her son Prince Charles, Queen Elizabeth isn't what you'd call an environmental crusader, however tt seems that she has had an organic vegetable garden added to the grounds at Buckingham Palace recently - the first time such a garden has been in place since the push for "victory gardens" during World War 2.

Victory gardens helped feed populations in the UK, USA, Australia and many other countries during that horrible war. It was a form of self sufficiency that slowly faded away after Big Agriculture got its claws into us; or more accurately, we allowed it to.

You won't find any heavy duty chemicals in Queen Liz's garden - according to The Telegraph, liquid sea-weed is used as a fertilizer and garlic preparations to ward off aphids. The garden is watered from a bore and mulch is also used.

Although I'd say Liz didn't do a lot in the way of hands on work for the new garden (after all, she is 83), it's great to see that someone so high profile join the veggie garden movement. From what I understand, Michele Obama also has a garden at the White House. With public figures such as these growing food, it will certainly help with a widespread return to the practice.

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