My “stick it in the ground and see what happens” style of growing vegetables has been surprisingly successful. Since I started in late November, I’ve grown green beans, tomatoes, lettuce, chillies, beetroot, cucumbers and broccoli. It hasn’t all been blissfully easy, though. I’ve had to admit defeat with a few of the things I planted.

Environmentalists concerned about the future of the lesser flamingos at Kimberley’s Kamfers Dam – one of only four sites in the whole of Africa where these birds breed – received some bad news this week. Their appeal against a decision to allow a massive housing development to be built in close proximity to the dam has been overturned.

Cape Town-based Optimal Energy plans to mass produce its fully electric vehicle, Joule, in South Africa from 2012, but we can expect to see pilot fleets on our roads and internationally from next year, the company says.

The best way to appreciate nature is to get out there and experience it. This may seem obvious, but it’s very easy to get caught up in the daily grind and suddenly you realise that you haven’t been out of the city for so long you can’t remember when you last smelt fresh air or woke up to the racket birds make in the morning. Mountain Sanctuary Park in the Magaliesburg is a great place to relax and enjoy the great outdoors.

A selection of green news from this week, including: US climate plan, New battery made by viruses, GM maize problems in SA, Fish oil and flatulence, Dolphins: good and bad news, as well as CDM and carbon capture and storage plans in SA

A group of volunteers in Douglasdale in northern Johannesburg have decided to start a clean up campaign on the Klein Jukskei River and is calling on other people in the community to get involved.