Time to dig and clear – but beware the cold | Allan Jenkins

February is a month for maintenance and chitting first earlies

Preparation, preparation, preparation. February is the month of maintenance. The time for digging in organic matter. Try to pick a dry day, not too cold – you are not looking to move frozen soil up to the surface.

Sort your garden borders. Get ready. The days are getting longer, from an hour and a half to around two hours by the end of the month depending on how far north you are. Note that this doesn’t mean warmer. February is a harsh month, a time of frost, with a mean temperature in the UK of around 1 C. So dig and clear, enjoy the good work, get your sowing beds ready because seeds will start going in soon.

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Cabin of curiosities brings Camden garden extension to life

An interior designer’s clever use of space and light gives a London flat a remarkable new space

The long, light-filled hallway of Katie McCrum’s north London flat leads to a sign marked “The Cabin”. Expecting to find a garden shed, I open the glazed door to discover an extension that feels more California than Camden. The walls are lined in pale Douglas fir, polished floors radiate heat from the underfloor heating. There is an airy bedroom, a shower and a compact kitchen, complete with flip-up dining table. Wide, sliding doors open on to the garden, adding to the air of seclusion.

McCrum, an interior designer with a background in property development, designed the cabin as a “flexible, multi-tasking extension” of her two-bedroom flat, set on the ground floor of a stucco-fronted house. It is a spacious guest bedroom for friends and family who can drift easily between the flat and cabin for drinks and meals. At other times, the Camden cabin earns a tidy keep as a short-stay rental for tourists who need a central bolthole.

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Cabin of curiosities brings Camden garden extension to life https://t.co/3ixDZUvIYM Solicitors & Estate Agents In One Just £899 + vat .. https://t.co/eLmKfiYyW9

Cabin of curiosities brings Camden garden extension to life https://t.co/3ixDZUvIYM Solicitors & Estate Agents In One Just £899 + vat .. https://t.co/eLmKfiYyW9 (via Twitter http://twitter.com/conveyandmove/status/1091730580503519234)

Cabin of curiosities brings Camden garden extension to life

An interior designer’s clever use of space and light gives a London flat a remarkable new space

The long, light-filled hallway of Katie McCrum’s north London flat leads to a sign marked “The Cabin”. Expecting to find a garden shed, I open the glazed door to discover an extension that feels more California than Camden. The walls are lined in pale Douglas fir, polished floors radiate heat from the underfloor heating. There is an airy bedroom, a shower and a compact kitchen, complete with flip-up dining table. Wide, sliding doors open on to the garden, adding to the air of seclusion.

McCrum, an interior designer with a background in property development, designed the cabin as a “flexible, multi-tasking extension” of her two-bedroom flat, set on the ground floor of a stucco-fronted house. It is a spacious guest bedroom for friends and family who can drift easily between the flat and cabin for drinks and meals. At other times, the Camden cabin earns a tidy keep as a short-stay rental for tourists who need a central bolthole.

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A good vintage: the London flat filled with 20th-century collectibles

Tenanted for half a century, this mansion block flat overlooking a 1930s lido has been totally transformed

What does a landscape designer do when her own home doesn’t have a garden? The answer, of course, is to summon nature indoors. In Natasha Nuttall’s flat, devil’s ivy winds seductively around a mid-century screen in the hallway; trailing clematis tumbles from a hanging planter, and a magnificent staghorn fern strikes a sculptural note on her office shelf. “I always wanted to introduce as much greenery as possible,” Nuttall says. “The plants give a lot of movement and life to the interiors.”

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How to graft apple trees | Alys Fowler

It takes time to master this tradition but the knowledge can be picked up in an afternoon

For as long as we have loved apples (and that’s a very long time) we have been taking cuttings of them. There’s a legend that the earliest apple cuttings were pierced into their own apples so they could be carried along trade routes moist enough to be planted up farther down the line.

We owe thanks to the Romans for our love of apples and the skill to graft them. All apple trees are grafted because apples don’t come true from seed: if you want to ensure a cultivar, you have to take a cutting. Grafting is the process by which you take a cutting from an apple variety that you like and graft it on to a desirable rootstock with a certain vigour (or lack of, in case of dwarfing variety) and resilience.

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Gardening tips: plant Clematis ‘Winter Beauty’

Then visit the new winter garden at Wakehurst and start planning your potato choices

Plant this You’ll need a sheltered spot such as a south-facing wall to make Clematis ‘Winter Beauty’ thrive, but it’s worth it for the waxy, bell-like flowers that come out this month. This evergreen climber, with its dark green foliage, will reach up to 3m x 3m, and nicely clothe a house wall or tall fence.

Visit this Snowdrops raise a particular passion in many gardeners. To see what all the fuss is about, head to Hill Close gardens in Warwick this weekend for their event celebrating all things galanthus, including more than 100 varieties on show. Details at hillclosegardens.com.

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