New chic is not about getting the best design or even the most carbon neutral furniture/designs. It is about producing goodness ... Eco Boosters are the top of the trend according to the excellent http://www.trendwatching.com/briefing

Well, on www.inhabitat.com they ask what could now be the new cool, ultra chic question: How much oxygen did your furniture produce today? Create your own eco-boosting sofa thanks to on line instructions: on  ReadyMade

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Fantastic new design by Philippe Starck: the personal wind power station. At the Milan show, the guru designer is showing new designs - no longer just about looking good.

I love this new creation that will be available in 6 sizes.

More details soon

'Democrat

Some are now thinking about seriously cutting utility bills: solar panels to get electricity ( and even sell some like the french) or water harvesting for washing, gardening...

But having massive ugly devices is a draw back for many.

Well designers are getting that message loud and clear and far from dull options are coming on the market.The excellent Treehugger spotted David L 'Hote's RainPod .I guess the rain issue is only just starting to top the trend hunters look out list so keep you posted.

I have already posted on water harvesting with the HOG or oversized planters. A step up from that is actually designing a garden/outdoor space so it is in itself not a consumer of rain but a harvester.

I now believe the time has come when any garden designer offering to create a garden without this feature or not offering to make the garden productive( ie edible) is very 'out of it' ! And no, I am not even a 'green forefront fighter' ...It just is common sense.It seems vain and ...well vulgar to just want a couple of flowers for the show ?

As the image chosen by the Telegraph shows it can be done in style.
Below you will find the very good review by the Telegraph of a book called 'RAIN gardens' by Nigel Dunnett and Andy Clayden which can be a good place to start thinking about the whole issue.

Rain gardens

Elspeth Thompson investigates how to turn the rain to your advantage

Earlier in the year, we were dreading another drought, but as I write vast tracts of the country are still recovering from flash flooding.

	Valuable resource: Use rain to make a water feature

The weather over the past few summers has taught us that global warming is not just about higher temperatures; it's about coping with extremes at either end of the scale - downpours as well as drought, unseasonal cold as well as scorching heat.

A few years ago, gardeners were looking to the Mediterranean for inspiration to beat climate change, but drought-tolerant plants such as lavender and santolina don't take kindly to having their roots standing in cold water week after week. What we need, clearly, is a style of gardening that can cope with periods of hot and dry, and cold and wet weather.

It's a tall order, but a new book, Rain Gardens by Nigel Dunnett and Andy Clayden (Timber Press), has come up with some pretty good answers.

Building on practices developed in Oregon, in the north-west United States, over the past five years, it suggests that we make the most of rainfall whenever it happens - storing water for use during drier times, and incorporating features into our gardens that not only help prevent flood damage but also enhance the aesthetic, sensory and wildlife potential of the space.

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This doesn't just mean installing a water-butt or two; it involves a complete re-think about how we value water as a resource.

At present, rainwater that falls on to buildings or hard surfaces is directed straight into drains, which rush it away as fast as possible into rivers, sewers or massive urban treatment centres, while we still rely largely on the mains supply for watering our parks and gardens. The recent trend for replacing planted areas with impermeable paving, concrete paths, patios and car parking, has only exacerbated the problem, particularly after heavy rains, when storm surges cause drains and sewers to flood. And when prolonged drought necessitates hose-pipe and sprinkler bans, our landscapes pay the price.

How much wiser, the authors argue, to design around a cycle that both slows and reduces water run-off and also stores any excess or delivers it wherever and whenever it is needed in the garden.

Their "stormwater chain" begins with the principle of reducing hard surfaces: using permeable surfaces (such as gravel and permeable paving) rather than "sealed" ones where planting is not desired, promoting mixed planting, and creating green roofs wherever possible. The increased vegetation intercepts heavy rainfall, slowing and reducing run-off, and looks beautiful into the bargain.

The next step in the chain is to capture run-off by disconnecting downpipes - practice on a shed to begin with. This can be done with conventional water butts, but also via more convoluted routes - emptying downpipes into deep-sided "stormwater planters", with run-off rills and gullies dispersing excess water to other spots in the garden where it can be used for irrigating vegetables, or emptied into a pond.

Another important tenet of "rain gardening" is to make water and its flow visible, wherever possible. Downpipes are thus replaced by decorative "rain chains" (in cup or link designs), while the rills and gullies that transport the water become attractive components in the garden rather than buried underground. Designed to look good whether full or dry, the gullies can take a wide range of forms - from a delta of six-inch-wide streams in which children can sail toy boats (substitute model cars or marbles when dry) to wider channels set within paving or steps inspired by the Alhambra or the Villa Lante.

These channels might lead into lower-lying "swales" - dips in the landscape, lined with pebbles or planted with vegetation that can cope with periods underwater - or run into permanent ponds, which can overflow, when needed, into further swales beyond.

Functioning best when long, shallow and meandering in form, swales slow the progress of excess water, allowing for natural evaporation into the air and absorption into the soil.

Only when they themselves become full, at the very end of the stormwater chain, is excess water diverted into the conventional drainage network.

Rain Gardens' authors stress that it is by no means necessary to include all elements of the chain into your garden. Just one or two will break the conventional drainage chain of roof or paved surface to sewer, but combining two or more ideas will multiply the benefits.

The idea of designing an entire garden around the intermittent presence of water is, however, extremely inspiring, and one I feel certain we will see more of in the future. If it helps to sound the death knell of the now-ubiquitous "water feature", run on mains water, powered by electricity, and often stylistically parachuted into the garden, with no use or relevance to the rest of the scheme, I, for one, feel it will not have come a day too soon.

OK ... now the French ( who are sort of known for cooking) are falling in love with solar cookers.
Bonaldi , a very trendy TV star, shows the huge own and the travel one on prime time national TV.
Worth watching to see the models  even if you are not fluent!

The reason why we will see more and more of them? They  cost very little ( large model is worth 350 euros) and the energy is free (in todays economy that already sounds like a miracle formula) .

And they are developing 'sun storage' qualities for when the sun is not out. Voila!

Might as well get used to them: I am sure designers will offer improvements.

We have all heard about the trendy new green walls ...well Turf Studios go a step further :
Read more about their playful vision of food growing ' Urban Style' here.
Or how to turn a traditional green wall into something productive.

I am a firm believer edible gardens are the future ...and they will be UBER design not eco warrior types...

For more : explore the world of green walls, vertical planting, urban farms  on

AMAZON:

Having a lawn and flower beds may soon be a major faux-pas, sign of selfish vulgarity.

Yep. So make sure your garden designer is an early adopter of the tidal wave about to arrive in every magazine, in every IT place: the garden must be edible or you are a has been !

Well , yes this is kind of heavy news ...and I apologise to those who hop over to read a lifestyle blog with cool ideas...
But I also have readers about to design a garden and even garden designers ... And I often ramble on about edible gardens and this piece of news sort of says I am right!
"If as predicted we look to use biofuels to satisfy 20 percent of the growing demand for oil products, there will be nothing left to eat," chairman and chief executive Peter Brabeck-Letmathe said.

Green roofs were in vogue a few centuries ago. The practice has recently resurfaced but grown in a limited way as only those able to hire talent could afford it because installation was so tricky.

Now London based http://www.urbanroofgardens.com is making it as easy as a mail order click & tick exercise .

One can order a box that will cover 12 square meters for just under 600 hundred pounds. 

I received a comment yesterday encouraging me to check out http://www.yourbackyardfarmer.com/
Hiring your own private farmer is for the most urban types - ie those with no time no experience but the will...   a  great solution.
Again you can use designer raised bed, ultra chic over sized planters to keep your design style intact.
It is only conventional thinking that wants us to think in either or
PS:Thx for the lead! 

If you are going to grow your own food, or have a green garden/outdoor space, demands in water will exist and the word 'water harvesting' will enter your vocabulary.
And with it design considerations and space problems.

From a design perspective, at very basic level , I would do my harvesting without ' looking like ' I was!
What would you choose ?

On your left  a proper water harvester or on the right two  over sized planters ( by Serralunga and Domani) that do more or less the same job if you are not too demanding:

The other issue is that of space. I just read on fellow blog Design Addict that
'And I just read on fellow blog Design Addict that

When Sydney-based designer Sally Dominguez was told it was impossible to fit a water storage tank under her small garden deck, she designed her own. The Rainwater Hog is a small-scale modular storage tank for collecting rainwater that can be reused for watering plants, washing the car or whatever you need.'

The waterHOG has the following dimensions:   180cm x 50cm x 22cm for a capacity of 183L. It is made from 100% recyclable plastic using natural gas in the process.

Available from DWR this Spring, five percent of the profits from every sale go to Water Aid International.

Join DWR for an evening with Sally Dominguez at DWR Berkeley Studio on March 5 2008, 6:30–8:30pm. Check out the Rainwater Hog in person and learn about the numerous ecological benefits of rainwater storage